Blood Bonds
by FlyingBlueJay
Summary: Sequel to Blood Symbol. After an incident Alex finally decides to let Charlie become her legal guardian. But a vengeful ghost is haunting and murdering the people responsible for his death. And one of Alex's friends is on the ghost's hit list.
1. Choices

**Welcome back to all who've followed the Blood Series from the beginning. To all who've only just found this; it's a sequel and I would suggest you read _Blood Symbol_ before you continue with this. **

**I was very surprised by the reviews I got on the last chapter of Blood Symbol. I'd expected a lot more outrage about Alex going back to Detroit, rather than staying. But apparently at least some of you thought it was a good ending. Realistic. Which was always my goal (or as realistic as possible, werewolves and vampires considered). I just didn't see her staying in Forks. Not yet anyway. And it remains to be seen if this time she will.**

**Alright, enough from my side. Here is the first chapter and I hope you enjoy it. Review please!**

**Chapter 01: Choices**

Pulling the key out of her pocket, Alex Swan turned it in the lock and opened the door to her apartment. It was already past three in the morning, but she'd had to pull a late shift at the diner, because one of her colleagues had come down with a bad flu.

She looked over at the small kitchen and sighed with frustration. The sink was piling high with dirty dishes, laundry was carelessly thrown all over the living room and every surface was coated with dust. Her mother had locked the door to her bedroom, probably sleeping off her latest high.

Despite the fact that Alex had to get up for school the next day she went into the kitchen and began scrubbing at the plates, pots and pans. They'd never get cleaned if she didn't do it. She also picked up the laundry and wiped down the shelves and the coffee table, throwing the magazines that had piled up on the table for the past weeks into the trash. She'd have to wait for some other time to vacuum. The neighbors would kill her if she did it now.

Looking through the mail Alex sighed at the three bills; phone, electricity, water. She'd have to pay the rent this week, too. It was starting to sound an awful lot like extra shifts again.

There was a text message on her cell phone. It was from Jacob. '_How r u? Hope ur fine. Paul's eating us out of our house. Call me._' She chuckled. Jacob hated the fact that Paul had imprinted on his sister, Rachel, because now he spent so much time at the Blacks' house. Absentmindedly she rubbed over the thin red scars on her wrist.

It had been three months since she'd left Forks and she missed it every day. Jacob especially. And Charlie. The start of her stay there had been everything but pleasant. She'd been drawn into a demon's killing spree and had nearly ended up getting killed herself. But she'd grown close to Jacob during that time. He'd been her partner and had become her best friend.

They hadn't talked in over a week, because Alex had been so busy. She looked at the clock again. She wouldn't be able to reach him now. He'd be either sleeping or out running with his pack.

Wiping the sweat off her brow she went over to the phone where the answering machine's red light blinked. It was late May, but the temperatures resembled July. And now, of all times, the air-conditioner had died. Alex had to remember informing their landlord about that.

'_Hey Alex. My wife's cooking dinner on Saturday. Why don't you come over?_' The message was from Lieutenant Greene, head of Homicide and a good friend of hers. He often took care of her when her mother was at her worst, letting Alex sleep on his couch. Everything she knew about police work she'd learned from him. His wife, Monica, was an excellent cook and Alex was looking forward to Saturday. He never expected a reply, because he knew she often forgot over all the other things she had to take care of, all she had to do was drop by. His wife cooked enough to feed a football team anyway.

She had to keep reminding herself that the summer holidays were only a week away and then she'd at least be rid of one burden for a while. Then all she had to do was get through senior year without getting shot or pregnant and then… She'd still be stuck in this apartment until the day she died – or her mother, whichever came first. She couldn't even go to college because she had to take care of her mother. Alex's life ended right where she was, there'd never be more for her.

* * *

><p>Jacob was standing on First Beach, watching the sunrise, small waves lapping at his feet and ankles. The scenery was peaceful and for the first time in months he was starting to feel that peace inside again.<p>

He hadn't talked to Bella in nearly three months. She'd called him about a week after Alex had gone back to Detroit, had wanted to know how he was and how he'd dealt with the demon. He'd talked to her for hours, like always, losing himself in the sound of her voice. Somehow – he wasn't sure how he'd managed to find the courage for it – he'd managed to end their conversation with him telling her that she should not call again, that if she wanted him to have a fair chance of moving on, she would leave him alone. If he talked to her again, it would have to be on his terms, face to face, and it would be to say goodbye, to tell her he'd managed to let go. But he wasn't there yet. He was trying and he was starting to feel better again. The constant ache in his stomach was still there, crippling him when he had the time and chance to think of her, usually when he was lying in bed in the evenings, alone and undistracted. He was getting used to the feeling though and he believed that in time he would learn to ignore it and then he could start healing it. Maybe.

The worst he could do was put his every effort into holding on. He'd seen Bella do that when Edward had left her and it had nearly destroyed her. He had to make sure not to fall into the same trap and he hoped that cutting off their last remaining connection would help – and particularly being the one who did.

Jacob hadn't talked to Alex in a long time either. About a week now. He wasn't worried yet. There had been times when she couldn't call him, because she was out all day, at school and at one of her two waitress-jobs, sometimes both in one day. She'd told him how horrible some of her days could be when she spent half the day in school and then worked into the wee hours of morning just to come home to an apartment that needed cleaning and a mother that was high once again. He couldn't imagine what it was like not being able to rely on his parents and having to be the one who paid the bills. She was only sixteen – seventeen, he corrected himself. Her birthday had been on the twenty-sixth of April.

He didn't understand why she'd chosen to go back. Charlie had offered to become her legal guardian and Jacob had no doubt that a court would place him in that position, considering the alternative, but she felt obligated to help her mother, Miranda, a woman who couldn't have been bothered to return the favor. He was worried that sooner or later she would crack under the strain. Even if she didn't, her current life held no future in store for her.

More than once Jacob had caught himself absentmindedly looking for cheap flights to Detroit on the internet. One ticket to Detroit. Two return tickets. All he'd have to do was grab her, drag her to the airport, into the plane and hold onto her tight until the plane was in the air. But he couldn't picture himself getting through airport security like that.

He couldn't suppress the yawn anymore. He'd been up all night patrolling and he'd have to go to school in only a few short hours. There was hardly a point in lying down now. He would just have to take a nap during English, the teacher wouldn't notice.

* * *

><p>When Alex got home the next evening it was already close to midnight. She hadn't gotten much sleep and was in desperate need for a good night's rest. She unlocked the door to her apartment and went inside, closing the door quietly so she wouldn't wake her mother.<p>

She went into the kitchen to get something to drink, crouching down to look inside the tiny refrigerator. The temperature inside it was too warm and the light didn't go on either. It was broken.

"Damn it!" she hissed. She'd only bought the food two days ago with what was left of her tight budget. With a huff of frustration she slammed the door shut, only to notice a pair of legs that had been hidden from her sight by the door standing right next to her.

She only had time to realize they belonged to a man when she was yanked up by her hair. The scream that automatically escaped her was muffled by a large hand. The smell of alcohol, sweat and cigarettes pervaded her nose. Whoever the man was, he was standing right behind Alex, one hand on her mouth, and the other wrapped tightly around her waist. The man was about a head taller than her and a good deal stronger.

"Miranda never mentioned what a pretty little girl she has," the man said, his voice deep and filled with a sickening desire. Alex could feel something hard pressing against her backside and she had to fight down the surge of panic rising in her.

The hand he'd had at her waist was moving upwards, cupping her breast and she squirmed involuntarily, squeezing her eyes shut. She had to focus, panicking wasn't going to help.

"Your mother's already paid me," the man said, his voice giving his words a disturbing innuendo, giving her breast a squeeze. Alex knew what he meant. He'd given her mother drugs and she'd returned a favor. "But I'll do you free of charge."

The man spun her around so she faced him. He was about forty-five years old, Caucasian, brown eyes, dark brown, short hair with grey streaks and a receding hairline. Drug abuse had taken what might have once been a nice physique, now he just seemed haggard. There was a scar on his dimpled chin, barely hidden by the three-day stubble.

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Alex spit at him, grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked her knee upwards. He went down with a loud groan and she used the time to grab a dirty pan off the stove and bashing him over the head. He dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Only now that the immediate threat was gone did she let the terror set in. With shacking knees she slid to the floor, her knees no longer strong enough to bear her weight. Her stomach was churning and she tried to take deep breaths to keep from puking all over the kitchen floor. She'd only have to clean it up later. A mild breeze came through the window and it was only when she felt the cold on her face that she realized that there were tears running down her cheeks.

This had been the fourth time one of her mother's associates had tried to rape her. The first time she'd gotten away only by luck. After that Lieutenant Greene had shown her a few techniques in self-defense which had now saved her three times. Once too often.

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Charlie mumbled into his phone, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He glanced at the clock on the living room wall. It was only one in the morning.<p>

"Charlie?" He was instantly awake when he heard the distressed voice on the other end of the line.

"Alex? Is that you? What happened? Are you alright?" His niece had only spent two months living with him while her mother had been in prison for drug abuse, but she'd grown on him during that time. He hadn't even noticed just how much until he'd seen her lying on the floor, bleeding and dying with a Demon Lord standing over her. He still had nightmares about that night.

"I'm fine," Alex said, her voice trembling and he could hear a sniff. She was crying, Charlie realized, getting uncomfortable. He'd never been good at offering consolation and crying females were a particular weakness of his. But before he could come up with something good to say Alex already continued, "I was just… Do you still consider… Would you still consider becoming my legal guardian?" The moment she'd said that Charlie was already thinking of all the people he'd have to call; travel agency for the next flight to Detroit and a hotel, work, social services, a lawyer, Sue and Billy.

But then he restrained himself. Alex had been adamant about her choice to return to Detroit. Something was wrong. "Alex? What happened?"

He could hear a muffled sob. "I'm fine, Charlie. Really."

"That's not what I asked." He was getting the feeling that he would fly to Detroit to shoot someone.

With another sniff she explained what had happened and Charlie's blood pressure was steadily rising. "But I kneed him in the crotch and whacked him over the head with a frying pan." Charlie released a pent-up breath, trying to remain calm.

"Where are you now?" Charlie asked. He prayed she wasn't still in the apartment.

"I'm at Lieutenant Greene's house. He lets me sleep on his couch." At least it sounded like she was safe now. Charlie couldn't believe what had happened. Probably not the first time either. He should have insisted to keep her in Forks. If he had dragged her to court any judge in the world would have given him custody over her immediately.

"Stay there, okay? I'll be in Detroit as soon as possible and then we'll sort this out," he reassured her.

"And then you'll take me home?"

"Yeah, I'll take you home."

* * *

><p>Warren Douglas was the last one left in the office. Or the first one, he noticed when he looked at the clock. It was just passed three in the morning.<p>

"Jen is going to kill me," he said, sighing deeply. This was the fifth night in a row that he hadn't gotten out of the office on time. She was particularly pissed about the fact that he'd spent all of last weekend in the office as well. "Just a few more minutes."

He noticed a light behind him flicker. He turned around to find the lamp on the neighboring desk, which had been turned off a few hours ago, turn on and off a few times. Someone was going to have to buy a new lamp. Douglas turned back to his computer. Just then his cell phone rang.

He picked it up. "I know it's late, honey, I just–"

"_You killed me. You're a dead man. You'll all be dead._" That was not his wife's voice. He knew that voice and it made goose bumps erupt all over his arms.

"Is that you, Doyle? How about you call me again when you get out of jail? I'll buy you lunch." Douglas hung up, shaking his head. The nerves of the guy!

The phone rang again. With a scowl Douglas picked it up. "Leave a message after the beep," he said without picking up, dropping it back onto the desk.

He turned back to his computer, trying to get done with his work for the night when his screen suddenly turned black. All the lights in the room and in the corridor began to flicker on and off rapidly.

"What the–" The words were stuck in Douglas's mouth as a ghostly image appeared on his dark screen. It was without doubt the face of Aidan Doyle. But he looked oddly translucent and his eyes were white and lifeless.

"_You killed me. You're a dead man. You'll all be dead._" The figure on the screen rasped.

Panic gripped Douglas and he jumped out of his chair. He hurried out of the office, passed the other monitors with Doyle's face on them and the flickering lights, and down the corridor to the elevator. Once the metal doors of the elevator opened, Douglas rushed inside and jabbed at the first-floor button.

The doors closed and he began to calm down, leaning against the back wall, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

Suddenly he was no longer alone. The translucent, pale figure of Aidan Doyle was standing right in front of him, its dead eyes fixed on Douglas. It lifted both hands, stretching them towards Douglas's chest.

Douglas screamed as Doyle came towards him, closer and closer until he was in reaching distance. But he didn't touch Douglas. Instead Doyle's hands sank right through Douglas's chest.

And then there was pain. Pain and cold. Then darkness…


	2. Beginning

**Chapter 02: Beginning**

It was still dark outside when Alex woke with cold sweat running over her brow. She sat up on the cream-colored couch in the Greene's living room, looking out of the window. There was a slight lightening of the sky in the east.

With a sigh she got up, the cold linoleum floor feeling good under her feet. She walked into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and the milk carton out of the fridge and poured herself a glass.

Sitting down on one of the stools at the kitchen isle, Alex closed her eyes and rubbed a hand over her face. She'd dreamt of the Demon Lord again. She'd dreamt of that night for about a week after it had happened, but she'd been fine then. When she'd returned to Detroit the dreams had started again for about a month and now they seemed to be back once again with a vengeance.

Alex wasn't surprised. The Demon Lord had been a living embodiment of everything bad that had happened in her life, everything she tried to fight but was powerless against. But she hadn't been powerless last night. She'd defended herself from the dealer, she could take care of herself. That knowledge was like a protective shield from the Demon, from his temptations. It would be easy to drown her nightmares in alcohol. She'd done it before, but now she always thought of what Charlie and Jacob would think of her if she would fall back into her old habits. She was stronger than that. At least she hoped she was.

"Couldn't sleep?" Alex looked up when she heard Lieutenant Greene walk into the kitchen. He was already dressed and ready to go to work.

"Nightmare," she answered honestly. She trusted Greene without any doubts. He'd picked her up a few times back when he'd still been on patrols. It was thanks to him that she had a record with the police for alcohol abuse of a minor, car theft and corresponding drunk driving. But he'd also been the one who'd brought her back onto the right path. He was one of the few cops Alex had met in Detroit who still valued their morals.

Greene walked over to the cupboard containing the spices and pulled out a squeezing bottle of honey and a glass jar of thyme. "Mix that with a cup of milk in the evenings," he said, putting the honey and thyme in front of her. "At least it helps me."

"Thanks," she smiled at him, deciding to go with his advice. It couldn't hurt and she was willing to try everything.

"I'll give my colleagues the description of the guy. They might ask you a few more questions though," Greene said and Alex nodded in understanding. She'd expected as much.

"Hey, Greene?" He stopped just by the kitchen door. He always left early for work. "Thanks for letting me stay. Charlie will be here by Monday and he'll get a hotel room for me so I'll be out of your hairs."

"Stay as long as you need. I'm glad you're finally getting out of Detroit, Alex. You're better than this place." With that he left. She smiled after him. She supposed that, prior to Charlie, Lieutenant Greene had been the closest thing to a father she'd ever had. His wife, Monica, had definitely always been more of a mother to Alex than Miranda could ever be and Alex loved the Greenes' children. Amelia and Jasika were only six, twins. Chenille, their eldest daughter, was Alex's age and one of her best friends, Derek, their only son, was eighteen, a senior in High School and striving to become a doctor.

"Good morning," Monica chimed as she walked into the kitchen. As always she looked pristine in a pantsuit. Monica worked in an art gallery in Downtown Detroit.

"Morning," Alex replied, handing her a cup of the coffee she'd only just made and taking a cup for herself.

"How did you sleep last night?" Monica asked. She always felt bad about Alex having to sleep on the couch, but since the twins had been born all the rooms in the house were filled.

"Fine," Alex lied, giving Derek a quick wave as he came into the kitchen, grabbing some coffee as well.

He sat down beside Alex, stealing the bacon off her plate.

"Get your own, will ya?" she said, stabbing at his hand with her fork. He pulled back before she managed to get him like she knew he would.

"You're not much of a morning person, are you, Alex?" he said with a grin, snatching another piece of bacon, before jumping out of her fork's reach and getting some for himself.

"No, and I don't much like morning people," Alex replied, grinning. Derek was the nicest boy Alex knew with the exception of Jacob and Seth.

"That's just cause Derek's such a jerk in the morning," Chenille said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Chenille!" Monica said with a warning voice. Chenille just rolled her eyes. Monica had given up on trying to keep her older children from using any swear words long ago, but she didn't want the twins to learn them already. Alex was certain it was a losing battle. Children learned far worse words in kindergarten nowadays.

Chenille dropped onto the stool Derek had evacuated a moment ago. "I can't believe you'll be leaving us, too," she whined. Her brother had been accepted to Wayne State University School of Medicine so he'd be leaving in the fall.

"Be glad she finally does," Derek said from the sink.

"I am. It's just that everyone's leaving now. I thought I'd have you for at least another year," Chenille said, hugging Alex from the side.

"If I could take you with me you know I would," Alex said, hugging her back.

"Well, maybe you can go visit Alex once you're done with school," Monica suggested.

The morning passed noisily, particularly once the twins came into the kitchen as well. After about an hour, Monica hurried all of them out to the van to get everyone to school on time.

"Alex, wait." Derek grabbed her hand just as she was about to follow the others out of the house.

"What is it?" she asked, turning to face him. There was a strange expression on his face, one she couldn't quite read, like he was struggling with something.

"It's just…" he swallowed. "I'll miss you when you leave."

"You won't even notice, you leaving for college and all," Alex replied, trying to sound cheerful. She'd miss him, too.

"Yeah, but it just won't be the same. You won't be around when I come by on the weekends or during my semester breaks."

"No, I won't." There was no point in denying it. She was going to leave her life in Detroit behind and aside from phone calls and e-mails she doubted they'd still have much contact.

Derek opened his mouth again, like he was about to say more, but then decided not to, closed it and walked out to the car. Alex followed him, slightly confused about the conversation they'd just had. Somehow she had the feeling Derek hadn't gotten to the point he'd originally tried to make.

* * *

><p>With a slight glimmer of satisfaction Jacob realized that it had been a long time since the last time he'd nearly lost control enough to phase in the middle of his kitchen. He'd grabbed the edge of the wooden table so hard it began to splinter under his grip.<p>

Charlie was watching him apprehensively, standing next to Billy's wheelchair, ready to pull Jacob's father out of reach should Jacob explode. Jacob knew that he was shaking bad enough for his outlines to blur and it took all he had to calm himself down again.

"I'm going to kill him!" he growled through clenched teeth.

"Get in line," Charlie replied, completely agreeing with Jacob's anger.

With a few more deep breaths Jacob's temper settled down again and he let go of the ruined table. "Sorry about that," he said to his father, who just shrugged. Even Billy looked furious.

"He didn't… Alex is fine right?" Jacob asked, almost scared of the answer.

"No, she's fine. Knocked him out apparently." There was a hint of pride in Charlie's voice. Jacob sighed with relief, slumping onto the nearest chair. He felt tired from trying to restrain his rage.

"Good thing the girl can take care of herself," Billy said, rubbing a hand over his face. He liked Alex, Jacob knew that and even if she hadn't become such an important part in their lives three months ago Billy would never have wanted her to get hurt.

"Where is she now?" Jacob asked.

"With friends. They'll let her stay with them until I get there," Charlie answered.

"It's really happening? She's coming back? For good?" Jacob couldn't quite explain the fluttering in his stomach that came along with the elation. He'd missed Alex terribly. They'd been in contact, calling each other whenever possible, but both of them had complicated and not always predictable routines that made it hard for them to find a time that suited both of them. It just wasn't the same to banter and argue over the phone. He wanted to see the way her face lit up when he made her laugh or the way her storm gray eyes turned hard and silvery when she was angry or sad. He wanted to see how the silver disappeared when he comforted her.

"She's coming back and she can stay as long as she wants to," Charlie answered with a nod, smiling happily. Jacob was sure Charlie had felt very lonely in his house when Bella had moved out. He'd grown accustomed to having someone around and while Alex was less willing to work in the household and had a much more rebellious spirit than Bella, Charlie had enjoyed the time she'd lived with him. They'd had many of the same interests – mainly sports and police work.

Charlie directed his stare directly at Jacob. "And when she comes there will be no involving her into any more of that… supernatural crime fighting." Jacob winced slightly. The day after the Demon Lord had been stopped Charlie had come over and shouted at Jacob for over an hour before Jacob had gotten the chance to clarify the situation.

"I didn't involve her. She was already on the case even before I met her," Jacob repeated what he'd said to Charlie all those months ago. "I knew she wouldn't back off so I let her work with me. At least that way I could make sure she was safe." Though that hadn't worked out entirely the way he'd planned – something Charlie had rubbed under Jacob's nose repeatedly.

"Well, it stops here. She nearly died the last time," Charlie said. "Alex is tough and she can handle humans, but not…" Charlie gesticulated into Jacob's general direction, "_this_."

"By _this_ I assume you mean werewolves," Jacob said calmly, though he felt somewhat offended.

"And all the other… stuff."

"Well, I don't know about the other _stuff_, but I sure know she has no trouble handling werewolves," Jacob replied.

"I won't be able to keep her away from you anyway," Charlie said with a sigh. A feeling of warmth and satisfaction spread through Jacob's stomach at Charlie's words, soothing a bit of the ache that Bella had left. "I just don't want her to get hurt."

"And neither do I. I promise I won't involve her into anything dangerous, but Alex has a mind of her own so I can't promise that she won't involve herself. She likes the whole detective work thing." And the supernatural didn't seem to faze her much. But Jacob kept his fingers crossed that he wouldn't have to deal with any other cases of that sort ever again. The demon had been more than enough horror to last him a lifetime.

"And she's good, too," Billy added.

"That's what worries me," Charlie mumbled.

* * *

><p>As the weekend approached Alex noticed that Derek was behaving more and more strangely towards her. He was always very nice and forthcoming, their usual bantering coming to a standstill. It bothered her. Derek had been one of her best friends for years. Admittedly she'd spent a lot less time with him than Chenille, since they were classmates, but it had always been fun to be with him.<p>

She didn't know where his reserve was suddenly coming from. They'd been fine just a few days ago and now he was acting like a stranger to her. Was he trying to break the friendship between them before they went separate ways? She didn't even know how she would feel about that. On the one hand it would be easier to start her new life in Forks with a clean break from her old life in Detroit, but she'd never want to stop talking to any of her friends. Particularly the Greenes' help and care were probably the only reasons why she was still alive.

"What's up with him?" Alex asked Chenille when Derek had come home, had waved a friendly hello their way and dashed up to his room. Usually he'd sit down with them and chat while they did their homework.

"Who cares?" Chenille answered, shrugging and scratching out a wrong answer in Trigonometry with frustration. "God, I hate math!"

Alex kept her mouth shut. She didn't mind math at all. It wasn't exactly her favorite subject – which was Gym – but she was fairly good at it. She preferred the sciences to literature and languages.

"He's been acting so weird lately," Alex continued.

"Probably thinks he's better than anyone else now that he's off to college," Chenille replied with a roll of her eyes. Alex honestly doubted that. Derek wasn't the type to act superior.

With a sigh she dropped the topic. Chenille, being the typical younger sister, wasn't exactly the most reliable source of information.

"Chenille! Chenille!" The twins stormed into the room, skidding to a stop in front of the kitchen table. "Will you watch _The Emperor's New Groove_ with us?"

With a groan Chenille slammed her head against the table top. "Not again," she murmured. Alex bit on the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. The twins loved _The Emperor's New Groove_ and watched it at least once a week. Monica didn't like her youngest children to watch television alone so someone was always forced to sit on the couch with them.

"I'll watch with you," Alex offered and Chenille mouthed a grateful '_Thank you_'.

Packing her almost complete math homework together she carried it into the living room and started the movie for the girls, settling down next to them to continue with her work. Like everyone else in the house Alex knew the movie by heart so it wasn't so much of a distraction.

Alex finished the rest of her homework halfway through the movie and settled back, letting the colors and sounds from the movie wash over her absentmindedly.

She thought of the things that were going to change in her life soon. Leaving Detroit wouldn't be easy. No matter the terrible things that had happened to her here, she had also experienced good times and she had good friends in the city. And Forks was far away, too far for spontaneous visits.

But she had friends in Forks, too. Gillian, Charlie, Emily, Kim, the pack, particularly Jacob. Jacob she missed the most. Never had she felt so connected to anyone and she was looking forward to seeing him again.

Her heartbeat sped up as she thought about being close to him again. Knowing him he'd pull her into a huge bear hug and he'd still be as warm as she remembered him. His smile would still be radiant with happiness. He'd still smell of crushed pine needles, salty ocean breezes and the musky scent that was all his own. His voice would still have that husky note to it. His skin would still feel like satin over steel muscles.

"Alex?" Chenille's voice pulled her back into reality with a start.

"Huh?"

"Torture's over," Chenille said, pointing to the black television screen.

"Oh," was her intellectual response. "Yeah, I guess it is." She still felt slightly rattled and was surprised to find herself short of breath and her heart beating like she'd just run in a marathon.

"So who is it?" Chenille asked, flopping down onto the couch on the space the twins had evacuated once the movie had finished.

"Who's what?"

"The guy you were just thinking of," Chenille said with a broadening, evil grin. "Must be one hell of a guy to get that kind of a reaction out of you." Alex leaned over to pack her books up so Chenille wouldn't see the blush on her face.

"Don't be stupid. I was only thinking about Jake," Alex said honestly. She _was_ only thinking about Jacob, after all. So why did her knees feel all shaky?

"That the boy you met in Washington?" Chenille wanted to clarify.

"Yeah," Alex replied simply though she didn't think the term _boy_ really suited Jacob.

"Is that why you want to go back?" Chenille asked, wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive way.

"Course not." Alex slapped her on the arm.

"A shame you don't have any photos. I would have loved to know what he looks like. Then maybe I'd know how he can throw you for a loop like that."

"He's not throwing me for a loop," Alex protested. "I'm just looking forward to seeing him again. He's a great friend. Kind, caring, always so warm and–" Alex looked up to see Chenille smirking again. "_What?_"

"There it was again. That dreamy expression," Chenille said, snickering.

"Oh, for crying out loud! Jake's a _friend_. Nothing more."

"Don't mean you can't wish he were more," Chenille insisted.

With a huff of frustration Alex jumped up and went into the kitchen. Sometimes Chenille could be really annoying.

"He died of a heart attack, didn't he?" Alex heard Monica's voice in the hallway.

"That's what the report said," Lieutenant Greene answered. Alex hadn't even noticed that he'd come home. She looked at the clock. He was early today.

"So? What's the problem?" Monica wanted to know.

"Douglas's wife came to me today. She showed me a voice mail on his cell phone. It was from Aidan Doyle, threatening to kill Douglas. It's just a pretty weird coincidence, getting a message like that right before dying of a heart attack," Greene explained.

"It might have caused the heart attack," Monica argued.

"Maybe," Greene replied, but he didn't sound convinced.

They moved down the hallway to Lieutenant Greene's office, out of Alex's hearing range. If she had to guess, Alex would bet that they'd been talking about Warren Douglas. He was a pretty prominent Defense Attorney. They said he never lost a case. Except one; Aidan Doyle's.

Alex had seen Douglas only in passing once a year or two ago. He was an elderly man, but very fit and from what she'd heard he was almost obsessive about a healthy living style. Somehow she couldn't quite picture him dying of a heart attack and apparently neither did Greene.

Something about the case made the skin on the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably. And there was really only one thing that could mean: Snooping.


	3. Case

**Chapter 03: Case**

Alex could hear sirens in the distance as she crossed the street. It was already dark in Detroit and she wasn't in an area where a girl should be around this time of night. She kept her pepper spray at hand, ready to use it if necessary. Homeless people and wanna-be gangbangers gathered around in the corners here, drinking and spending what little money they had on drugs. Alex knew the area well, she'd dragged her mother away from there often enough. And it had all gotten worse since the automobile industry had crashed.

"Yo, Alex, long time no see." She stopped at the sound of the male voice. She'd been hoping he'd find her once she was here, because she probably would have had to search for him for weeks.

"Yeah, it's been a few months. How've you been, Beau?"

Beau shrugged thin shoulders under his jean jacket. "Fine, I guess."

"You clean?"

He shot her a look out of the corner of one pale blue eye. "Greene send you?" She shook her head in honesty. "Then I don't have to tell you nothing."

"No, you don't," Alex replied with a shrug.

They walked down the street in silence for a moment, stopping at a red light once they hit the main street. Beau sighed. "Okay, I'm clean. You happy now? You gonna bugger off and leave me alone?"

She grinned. "Is it ever that easy?"

"Not with you it ain't. Listen," he waved a hand at a corner diner, less trendy than most of its competitors, "you're going to take up my time, you can buy me dinner."

She bought him dinner, but not the beer he wanted, and asked him about the feeling on the street.

"Feeling about what?" he asked, stuffing a huge forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. "Sex? Drugs? Rock 'n' Roll?"

"Aidan Doyle," Alex said, taking a sip of tepid coffee that tasted barely better than dirty water, and waited. Beau was her best set of eyes and ears on the street. She could pick up a lot of information herself, but Beau's way of life gave him even more access. He wasn't exactly a snitch, more a barometer really, hooked into moods and feelings. He was nineteen now. She'd met him when Greene had brought him in at the age of fifteen. Since then he'd helped Greene out a few times with valuable information.

"Feelin' on the street…" He methodically spread the last roll a quarter inch with butter. "Feelin' on the street says, keep your pretty little head out of this, Alex."

"What do you mean?"

He peered up at her from under the thick fringe of his eyelashes. "Doyle's not someone you wanna fuck with. He might be in prison, but he's got favors with a lot of bad people."

"People like…?"

He sighed in frustration. "You never did learn to pick your battles." He brushed his fingers through his thick, dirt blond hair. "Doyle's got a reputation, okay? Long list of assaults from his teens for one. He was also involved in at least six hits with the Irish Mob and a couple of the bike clubs."

"Any affiliations?"

Beau shook his head. "Pure freelancer. Guess he just likes hurting people." He scraped his plate clean. "Ten years ago he got nailed on a traffic violation with a severed head on the passenger seat of his car."

"No one likes to drive alone," Alex said sarcastically and Beau snorted.

"Yeah well, he's pretty bad, but some of his friends are worse. If his name's involved you should run the other way." Alex clamped her mouth down on her response. There was no point arguing. Beau was giving her advice, she knew he didn't give a damn what she would do with it.

Outside the restaurant she asked him if he needed money. She couldn't get him off the street, he wouldn't accept her help, not Greene's, so she gave him what he'd take. She was off bad, but Beau was off worse, she knew that.

"Nah," Beau pushed a lock of his hair back off his face. "I'm doing okay on cash."

"You hooking?"

"Why? You want Greene to arrest me? Or do you want to hire me?"

"I want to smack you. Haven't you heard there's an epidemic going around?"

He danced back out of her range. "Hey, I'm careful." Just for an instant he looked much, much older than his years. "I believe in staying alive."

It was already very late when Alex returned to the Greenes' house. The Lieutenant and his wife were already in bed and so were the twins, but Derek and Chenille were sitting in front of the television in the living room. It was Friday and the first day of the summer holidays, so their parents didn't mind Chenille being awake as long as she wanted to and Derek was of age so he could do whatever he wanted anyway.

"Where have you been?" Derek asked as Alex came into the living room, once she'd slipped out of her sneakers.

"Just gone out for a stroll. Needed to clear my head," she lied, bracing herself on the back of the couch.

"You shouldn't go out alone at this time of night," he said, looking worried.

"Relax, I've got pepper spray and I'm not helpless." Lieutenant Greene was a master in Muay Thai, and he'd showed Alex a few moves, just in case she needed to defend herself. It worked great for her when she combined it with the speed and agility she'd acquired since she began training parkour, even if she lacked in strength compared to men.

"I'll, er… go and get ready for bed," she said.

"Already?" Chenille asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, it was a pretty long day for me," Alex replied and wished them a good night. Leaving the living room, she hurried down the hall, passed the bathroom and snuck to the door of the now empty and dark office. Greene always locked it when he wasn't inside so she pulled out her hairpin and began fumbling with the lock. The door opened with a satisfying click and she hurried inside, closing the door behind her.

Instead of turning on the desk lamp, which could be seen from the outside, she opened the top drawer of Greene's desk and pulled out a little pen light she knew he kept in there. He used to use it when he'd still been in the Narcotics Division. It was the simplest way to check pupil reaction.

As quietly as she could she began going through the folders on his desk. Fortunately for her Greene was a workaholic, so he usually took case files home with him, which was why he locked the door.

Rummaging through the files she was sure she'd find what she was looking for. Cardiac arrest or not, Alex could tell that Greene had found Warren Douglas's death as strange as she had. He was bound to look into it.

_Bingo_, she thought triumphantly as she finally found Aidan Doyle's criminal record. She looked through it; assaults in his teens, suspected in at least six Mob hits, active in a few bike clubs, caught with a severed head in his car… nothing she hadn't learned from Beau already. Apparently Doyle had been given a _dangerous offenders status_, which meant that he had no chance of parole. First night in prison he'd killed his cell mate, because, as he'd stated, he'd wanted a room for himself. He hadn't joined any gangs in prison. A total loner with only one visitor every week.

"Mom," Alex whispered with a roll of her eyes. Only a mother could love a monster like that.

She continued reading and her eyes grew wide as she reached the toxicology report. Aidan Doyle had committed suicide in his cell a week ago. She looked at the coroner's diagram, showing the location of wounds Doyle had inflicted on himself. He'd cut both his wrists with a knife he'd made out of a spoon, which had caused him to bleed to death, but Alex's eyes were drawn to something else.

The familiar shape of the pentagram on the chest made Alex gasp and her right hand came up to grasp her left wrist, covering the scars.

"Right up my alley," she murmured sarcastically. Pulling out her cell phone she made pictures of the report, the diagram and the autopsy photos.

Stashing the folder back into its place at the bottom of a huge pile she switched off the pen light, replaced it in the top drawer and quietly hurried out of the door. She could still hear the television in the living room as she used her pin to relock the door. Once that was done she slipped into the bathroom, stripped and stepped under the shower.

As the hot water splashed onto the top of her head, rinsing away the shampoo, Alex thought hard about what she knew. Half a year ago she would have considered it a coincidence, but now she knew better. The pentagram had a meaning. Gillian had told her what a powerful symbol it was. '_They're used to focus power in rituals, like to call spirits, that kind of thing,_' Gillian had said.

_It doesn't have to be anything supernatural_, she thought. People often used rituals without any effect. But it was a lead and she'd follow it, wherever it would take her.

Monday came with very bitter news. For whatever reason Miranda had decided to put up a fight. So what should have been a quick and quiet handover of guardianship would now be brought up in front of a judge.

Alex met Charlie at the Detroit Regency Hotel, which was located on Jefferson Avenue, near the Detroit River, which connected Lake Eerie with Lake St. Clair and was the border between the United States and Canada.

"School go okay?" Charlie asked awkwardly after he'd greeted her with a big hug that had probably shocked him about as much as it had Alex.

"Yeah, I did pretty well this year," she answered, grabbing the duffle bag that contained everything she'd managed to snatch in her hurry to get out of her apartment. She followed him to the elevator and he handed her a key card for the room he'd booked for her.

"What about prom? When's that?"

"It was last weekend and no, I didn't go." Not that she hadn't wanted to. She'd had a dress hanging in her closet for a few months just for prom (it was cheaper when she bought it off-season), but her boss at the diner had made her pull an extra shift that night.

That reminded her; she was going to have to send in her notices.

"Well," Charlie cleared his throat, "we've got a hearing this afternoon. If you don't mind, I'll lie down a bit. Flight's been endless."

"You do that. I'll just be in my room," Alex said. The elevator came to a halt and they exited on the third floor. Charlie's room was down four doors from Alex's.

"I'll see you later, then," Charlie said, before he disappeared in his room.

Alex entered her room. It was small and definitely not the cleanest, but the bed was big and looked comfortable enough.

With a sigh she dropped her duffle bag next to the closet door and let herself fall onto the bed covers face-down, lying there until lack of oxygen forced her to turn onto her back.

Things were definitely not going as Alex had expected. She would have expected her mother to not even notice her absence until the landlord threw her out because she couldn't pay any bills anymore. For some reason Miranda was fighting instead.

Alex's throat closed up as tears stung the back of her eyes. Why couldn't her mother have shown this kind of interest before? Why did it have to come to this? Should she blow it all off now? Tell Charlie to go home?

The hearing hadn't taken very long. The judge had obviously already had a long day and had been very eager to get through the rest of his cases. The lawyers had only had enough time to give their opening statements and a representative of youth welfare had announced that, while not knowing Charlie and not appreciating his single status, he would be a better choice as legal guardian.

Alex cringed in the back of the cab they were taking back to the hotel as she remembered her mother starting to cry at the statement. She'd had to fight the urge to run to Miranda – who'd surprisingly seemed clean – and protect her, go home with her and forget she'd ever intended to leave.

_God, that's messed up_, she thought. Miranda was supposed to protect Alex, not the other way around. And Miranda hadn't protected Alex. If it hadn't been for Greene she'd have already been raped and maybe worse.

"You okay?" Charlie asked once they got out of the cab. He put his hand on her shoulder awkwardly in what was probably an attempt to comfort her. The gesture was kind, but not really helping.

"Yeah. I'll be fine. I… I probably should lie down a bit," Alex said and hurried to the elevator without looking back.

Once in her room she tried to get some rest, but her mind was whirling out of control. She had to do something to distract herself and there was really only one thing she could think of: stew over something else.

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Gillian's number.

Gillian picked up on the third ring. "Alex?" Alex had to hold the phone a few inches away from her ear as Gillian shouted excitedly, "Jake just told me. I can't believe you're finally coming back!"

"Calm down, Gill, or I'll go deaf," Alex said, smiling to herself. "Jeez, you'd think I got lost in the jungle for years."

"It feels like it," Gillian said honestly. "I just miss you so much." Gillian was a very pretty girl, very smart and funny, too, but her Goth appearance was too much for the small town people of Forks so she was usually alone.

"I miss you, too, Gill," Alex replied. "So what's going on at your end?"

"Not much. My parents and I might be going to the Côte d'Azur for the summer. I really don't want to, though. I'd rather stay in Forks and hang out with the pack. And you, of course."

"You can always hang out with us. When else are you going to get a chance to see the French Riviera?" Alex said.

"Well, I guess that's true."

They continued their small talk for another ten minutes, before Alex remembered why she'd called Gillian in the first place. "I'm on a case again, Gill."

"_What?_" Gillian yelled. "How do you get involved in all that paranormal stuff all the time?"

"It might not be paranormal."

"But you think it could be. Why else would you consult the expert?" Gillian giggled on the other end and Alex rolled her eyes.

"I've got some pictures I'd like you to take a look at. I'll send them to your phone. If there's anything of importance you can call me back." Alex continued to fill Gillian in on everything she knew about the case so far and was about to hang up when she remembered something else. "And Gill, not a word to Jake. He'd just worry."

"I swear on my grandmother's grave." With that Gillian hung up before Alex had a chance to remember that both of Gillian's grandmothers were still very much alive.

"Damn."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, yeah, I know! Not a lot of Jacob in this one. Don't worry, he'll be back in the next chapter. And the more reviews I get, the sooner you'll get that chapter. Until then! Luv ya!<strong>


	4. Pretend

**Chapter 04: Pretend**

"Okay, Embry, try again." Jacob leaned on the open hood of his Rabbit, while Embry sat in the driver's seat, turning the ignition. The motor sputtered and wheezed a few times, before it died again. "Damn it!" Jacob cursed angrily, slamming the hood down a little more forcefully than necessary. He'd been working on the motor for the past two hours after it had just died on him the other day.

"Easy, or do you want dents to go with the rest of the damage?" Embry got out of the car and stood next to Jacob, looking at the closed hood with a frown. "Just take a break, okay?"

Jacob took a deep breath to calm his temper. Embry was right. He had to take a break before he tore the car apart in frustration.

"You've got a visitor, by the way," Embry said, looking towards the house. Jacob followed his gaze to see Gillian waving at him. "I haven't seen her around here in a while."

"She's been over just two days ago," Jacob said.

"Yeah, but she used to practically sleep on your front porch." Jacob had to chuckle. When Gillian had first found out about them being werewolves it had been almost impossible to get rid of her. Jacob hadn't minded. It was a nice change to the usual fearful reaction. Well, he'd personally only ever gotten a shocked reaction from Bella. Alex had been pretty cool with it.

"I guess everything gets old eventually," Jacob replied.

"I guess." Embry stretched once and turned towards the forest. "I'll talk to you later."

Jacob watched his friend run off into the woods and then walked over to Gillian.

"You'll ruin your shoes standing in the mud like that," he said with a smile. Gillian had rather wealthy parents and it didn't take much detective skills to guess that her shoes were probably worth more than Jacob's house.

"No matter," Gillian said, waving it off. She didn't much care about fashion and pricey labels. "I'm kind of here on an emergency."

"An emergency?" Jacob said skeptically.

"It's Alex." That was enough for him.

"Let's go inside." He put his hand on the small of her back, guiding her along. "So what is it?" he asked once they were in the house.

Gillian opened her bag and pulled out several pictures she seemed to have printed out; autopsy pictures, photos of a toxicology report.

"What the hell is this?" Jacob asked, holding up one of the pictures. It showed the head and torso of a red-haired man in his mid- or late forties. Whoever this man was, he had a giant pentagram carved into his chest, just above a large, black word tattooed across his chest.

"Alex's newest case."

"_What?_" Jacob looked at Gillian incredulously. How the hell was that girl always able to maneuver herself hip deep into trouble?

"Alex called me last night and sent me these pictures to analyze," Gillian said. "From what I know this man's name is Aidan Doyle and was convicted for driving with a dead man's head on the passenger seat about fifteen years ago. He's also a suspect in several cases involving the Irish Mob. Just a few days ago the Defense Attorney, who'd represented Doyle in his trial, died and the Attorney's wife is certain it was Doyle."

Jacob sighed heavily. "Demons are one thing, but this is a case for the police." Why was Alex getting herself involved in a Mafia case? Was she going insane?

"Well, this is where it gets kind of complicated…" He looked at Gillian expectantly. "Doyle killed himself in his cell a week ago. He carved the pentagram into his chest and going by what the report says about what else they found in his cell, he was doing some kind of ritual. Or at least attempted one."

"What kind of ritual?"

"Hard to say." She handed him a crime scene photo. "The guards found him surrounded by a circle of salt, a burning candle, a glass of water and incense. He used a spoon which he carved into a knife to cut open his wrists and carve the pentagram into his chest."

Jacob picked up the photo of the weapon in question. The spoon had been bent and filed until the metal was straight with sharp edges. "Looks like it was _Arts & Crafts Day_ on the cell block."

Ignoring Jacob's remark, Gillian continued. "There are four Celtic elements of life; earth, fire, water and air, represented by the things found in the cell with him. The pentagram is the connection between the elements and the spirit."

"I thought the pentagram is used to summon demons."

"That's the complicated part. The pentagram has a wide variety of meanings. Its purpose is really just to focus energy. Depending on the culture and religion, or your own personal opinions it could mean anything from a simple cleansing ritual to… well, calling a demon. Your own intentions and motives play a big role in the meaning the pentagram has in your ritual."

"Well, as much sense, I guess, it would make to cleanse himself before committing suicide, something tells me Doyle had less noble motives."

"Whatever the ritual is for, it doesn't mean it actually worked," Gillian reminded him. "The official story is that the Attorney died of a heart attack. Maybe that's true."

"Gill, I know Alex. Her intuition's pretty dead on. If she thinks there's more to this case, she's probably right. Whether Doyle used some sort of ritual to kill his lawyer or if he hired someone to wack him doesn't really matter. If Alex sticks her nose in this she might be caught in the crossfire."

"What are you going to do now?" Gillian asked.

Jacob sighed again, brushing his fingers through his hair. He could, of course, call her, shout at her, tell her to keep out of other people's business, but he knew he'd be falling on deaf ears. In this regard, he supposed, she was almost vampiric; there was no way she'd stop now that she'd tasted blood.

"I don't know." Suddenly his broken-down car wasn't so big a deal anymore.

* * *

><p>Alex didn't even need to look at the display for the caller ID, nor did she need the specific ringtone – <em>Little Wonders<em> by _Rob Thomas_, one of her all-time favorite songs and one she never seemed to get sick of listening to – to know it was Jacob. She'd expected him to call after all.

"So, what did Gill say about the pentagram?" she said when she picked up. She could hear Jacob sighing on the other end.

"That it's part of a ritual, but she doesn't know which one yet," he replied. "Alex," he continued, sounding pleading, "please just stay out of this. Magic ritual or not, this is dangerous."

"Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." She sat down on her bed, crossing her legs.

"Curiosity killed the cat," he mumbled, probably more to himself.

"No, stupidity killed it. Curiosity was framed and I'm trying to clear its name," she replied, with a grin.

"Yeah, because you managed so well with the demon," Jacob said heatedly.

"I don't think I'm dealing with another demon here, so that's not the issue."

"No, but even a human can kill you if he points a gun at you," Jacob pointed out.

"It won't come to that," she told him confidently. He groaned.

"Alex, please, I'm begging you, let the police handle this."

"If this ritual actually worked, the police won't get far, you know that." Alex hated hearing Jacob so distressed, but she couldn't just give up the case either.

"I can't protect you this time," he said. He sounded defeated and she wished she was sitting across from him so she could hold him and try to make it all better. It was the same tone he used when he talked about Bella and she hated it even more than him being distressed.

"You don't have to," she said quietly, nearly choking on the lump that was quickly forming in her throat.

"Alex, please."

"Jake, I have to go, we have another hearing," Alex said, worried that if he'd beg a few more times she might even give in. It wasn't entirely a lie. They did have another hearing, but they didn't have to leave the hotel for at least another hour. "I can't believe my mother's actually fighting."

She'd tried to sound nonchalant about it, but the silence on the other end of the line made her uncertain of what emotion had come through.

"You _are_ going through with this, right Alex?" Jacob asked worriedly.

"What? The case?"

"No, the guardianship."

She opened her mouth to respond only to realize she didn't know what to say. "I… I have to go. I'll call you later, Jake. Bye."

"Alex, wait–" She pressed the end button before he could say anything else.

* * *

><p>"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" He cursed as the line went dead. "God damnit!" He only just managed to keep himself from throwing his cell phone against the wall. His plate had to take the hit instead.<p>

At the sound of his son's cursing and the crash of the plate, Billy wheeled himself out of his room. "What's wrong?"

"I think Alex is going to change her mind," Jacob told Billy, whose eyes widened.

"Why?"

"Her mother seems to want to keep her." Alex was not weak. Hell, he'd rarely met anyone with such inner strength. The only thing that really seemed capable of bringing her to her knees was her mother.

"Damn," Billy hissed. "That's unexpected. Miranda's shown no interest in her daughter so far."

"Maybe the prospect of losing Alex for good woke her up." Even while he said it Jacob couldn't bring himself to believe it.

"Maybe," Billy replied, sounding just as unconvinced. "I hope the girl's smart enough to make the right decision." Jacob winced as pain pulsed through the gaping hole that filled the place where his heart had been. He'd once trusted another Swan girl to make the right decision.

"Yeah," he rasped listlessly.

"Don't worry. Alex isn't like Bella. You know that," Billy said soothingly, putting a hand on his son's elbow, not being able to reach his shoulder. "You might not want to hear this, but Alex is a much stronger person than Bella ever was."

Jacob nodded. He knew that, too. "She's on a case again."

"She's what?"

"Involving a guy who killed himself in his cell while performing some sort of ritual. A week later the guy's lawyer died of mysterious circumstances," Jacob explained.

"Stronger, yes, but also a lot more reckless," Billy said, shaking his head. Jacob had to grin in spite of his sullen mood.

"I don't know what to do. If she does this alone she might get hurt." He didn't even want to think of any worse alternatives.

"Have you tried to talk her out of it?" Billy asked, his brow pulled down in a deep V.

"Yeah, just now. It didn't have much effect. Not that I expected that." Jacob gave his father a pained smile, before he let himself fall on one of the three chairs by the kitchen table, running his hands through his hair.

"Does Charlie know?"

"Hardly, but I don't think telling him is going to do much good." He was scared that Charlie might change his mind. He'd already lost his daughter, Jacob doubted he'd be willing to go through that again with his niece.

* * *

><p>"Your honor, letting Alexandra live with Mr. Swan would be careless. Only in the two short months she'd stayed with him she nearly committed suicide." Miranda's Attorney, a Miss Shepard, said. She was somewhere in her late thirties, tall, slim, with long brunette hair and if she had a job that would take up less of her time, Alex was certain she'd already have a husband or at least a steady boyfriend. She probably had a whole flock to choose from.<p>

"I did not try to commit suicide!" Alex blurted out angrily. It frustrated her that people always assumed that when they saw the scars on her left wrist. She admitted they looked somewhat suspicious.

"Miss Swan, I will not have you shout in my courtroom," the judge said. Judge Harding was an elderly, portly man with graying hair and a mustache that looked like a hairy caterpillar. He was a cranky old man, and Alex guessed, from what she'd overheard people talking out in the hallway while she and Charlie had been waiting, it was because his daughter had only recently moved to Louisiana and he only rarely got to see his three grandchildren anymore.

"Sorry, sir," Alex replied calmly.

"Now, would you please explain, Ms. Swan?"

"It's all in the police record." She told him the official version of what had happened during her stay with Charlie in Forks. Officially Irving Keaton was a deranged lunatic, who'd been under the impression he was calling up demons by some rituals and killing people. Alex and Gillian had been out, wandering the streets, when he'd driven up to them in that stolen red Porsche and asked for directions. Before they knew what was happening he'd dragged Gillian into the car and knocked her out with chloroform. When Alex had tried to help her, he'd hit her over the head with something hard, something she hadn't been able to identify. She'd woken up in his cellar apartment, tied up. In a crazy attempt to call up a demon, he'd cut her wrists as part of some magic ritual. Then Jacob and Charlie had come to help them and while they'd tried to keep Alex from bleeding to death, Irving had managed to escape and, to this day, was still on the run.

It was, Alex admitted to herself, as she recounted the story she'd rehearsed with Gillian, Charlie and Jacob, a pretty far stretch from the truth.

"So let me get this straight," Miss Shepard said, her eyes glinting like a vulture's who'd just spotted a potential meal. "You were living with your uncle for barely more than two weeks and you were already involved in such a life-threatening situation?"

_Maybe_, Alex thought, seething, _the list of suitors really isn't all that long_.

"Now, wait a minute," Charlie interrupted. "I'll let you know that my daughter, Isabella, lived with me just fine for one and a half years."

"You are referring to Mrs. Isabella Cullen, formerly Swan?" Shepard asked, flipping through her notes.

"Yes," Charlie answered shortly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Swan, but I believe your daughter was hospitalized after a very bad accident after she ran away from you just three months after she moved to Forks. And is it not true that she spontaneously flew to Italy only a year later without any notice?"

"She was eighteen and she left a note," Charlie mumbled quietly, growing smaller in his seat under the very intense and intimidating gaze of Shepard.

_No suitors_, Alex corrected herself, disliking Shepard more and more. How the hell had Miranda gotten such a super lawyer? She looked over at their own lawyer. Charlie couldn't really afford one, so the state had assigned them Mr. Hopwood. He was a rat-faced, little man, with premature gray hair and a bald spot on the back of his head. He was cowering in his chair, looking up at Shepard with almost fearful eyes. _Just great_, Alex thought.

"And is it not also correct," Shepard continued as if Charlie hadn't said anything, "that your daughter married straight out of High School and has moved away at the beginning of the year? Are you still in contact with her, Mr. Swan?"

"Occasionally," Charlie answered, swallowing hard. Alex wasn't sure if he was nervous or if he was taking the question very hard. Perhaps both.

"How often do you see her, Mr. Swan?" Shepard asked.

"I don't… I haven't seen her." Charlie's hands balled up into fists in his lap and he swallowed again, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"But you call her," Shepard pressed.

"No, she calls me. I don't have her number," Charlie admitted, looking down at the floor. Alex could tell he was taking this very bad. He loved his daughter and the separation was hurting him. How could Bella have chosen this life? How could she do this to the people that loved her? Charlie, Jacob, her mother, her friends?

"How often would you say does she call you, Mr. Swan?" Shepard plowed on ruthlessly, ignoring the obvious pain Charlie was in.

"I don't know, maybe once a month. To check up." He'd grown very quiet towards the end and Shepard had the nerve to force him to repeat himself even though her smug smile proved that she'd heard him just fine the first time. Alex's fists were shaking with rage, but an outburst of anger would do them no good. Shepard would turn it into some sort of twisted example of Charlie's bad influence, or maybe Jacob's. Alex was sure she'd jump at the woman if she dared to drag Jacob into this as well.

"I have no more questions, your honor," Shepard said and sauntered back to her table, sitting down next to Miranda, who was crying silently. "There, there, everything will be fine," Shepard crooned, and handed her a tissue. Alex nearly got sick at the sight of the lawyer's mind games.

"This case will be adjourned. The next hearing is on Friday at twelve o'clock," the judge announced and closed his folder, getting up.

Shepard guided a still crying Miranda out of the courtroom. Alex didn't dare look after her mother or there was a good chance she'd run after her.

"Well, that was…" Charlie cleared his throat, "…something," he finished lamely. His hands had moved together, his fingers interlaced and his right thumb stroking the side of his left hand. It was an unconscious gesture of self-soothing, one many people used when they were in an uncomfortable position or had just come out of one.

"Yeah, she chewed us up and spit us out," Alex said. She knew Charlie preferred it when she pretended not to see his pain. Trying to comfort him now would only make it worse for him. So she pretended. Just like he pretended not to notice how much it was hurting Alex to fight her mother in court…

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I know, not that exciting a chapter, but you gotta get through that to get to the good stuff. Like always, I want some reviews before I upload the next chapter.<strong>


	5. Visit

**Chapter 05: Visit**

"Alright, what have you got so far?" Jacob asked with a sigh, cradling the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he dried the dishes from breakfast he'd just finished cleaning. He couldn't believe that she'd seriously convinced him to bounce ideas off each other. He didn't even want her on the case. But with a little luck this would turn into a case she could let the police handle. _And who made you king of wishful thinking?_ he thought sarcastically.

"Nothing Gillian hasn't already told you," Alex answered on the other end of the line. She yawned loudly and he had to remind himself that she was three hours behind, which meant that she'd probably only just gotten out of bed. "Warren Douglas is a Defense Attorney, right? And he was found dead in his elevator. Coroner says it was cardiac arrest. But his wife finds a threatening voice mail on his phone from psycho-freak ex-client Aidan Doyle, received shortly before Douglas died."

"Yeah, I know that part," Jacob said, putting away the last dish and walking over to the kitchen table, where he had the photographs, Alex had sent Gillian, laid out.

"Douglas's wife thinks Doyle is the prime suspect, but he committed suicide a week ago."

"So he hired somebody," Jacob concluded. That would have been the answer if they lived in a normal world. Then again, how normal could it really be if people killed each other?

"Hm." Alex sounded far from convinced. "Then why go through all the trouble to have someone killed when you're planning to commit suicide? Maybe this is just a coincidence." Jacob already knew she didn't actually believe that.

"Or maybe," he began, deciding to play along and spit out what she was waiting for anyway, "Doyle is seeking revenge from beyond the grave."

"You think that was what the ritual was for?"

"Gillian's still trying to figure that out, but I'm sure it wasn't some cleansing ritual," Jacob said.

"Many turn to a spiritual life in prison," Alex reminded him.

"Sure, sure, but I really don't see that for this guy," Jacob replied, holding up an autopsy close-up photo of Doyle's face. He looked like the kind of man one shouldn't meet in a dark alley – or shouldn't meet, period.

"Alright, assuming this is some supernatural path of revenge, was Douglas his only target or will there be more?"

"Douglas was his lawyer and screwed up, so maybe Doyle just wanted him."

"Yeah, but…" she went silent.

"But what?" Jacob prodded.

"Douglas never lost a case. He loved winning. Doyle's was the only case Douglas ever lost and from what I've overheard Greene saying, he seemed relieved about it," Alex said thoughtfully. "I mean, Doyle was obviously guilty, but that's never bothered Douglas before. That man was a scumbag with a law degree."

"You think there's more involved?" Jacob asked, raking his fingers through his hair. He did that a lot lately, he noticed – ever since he'd met Alex. She was going to make sure he'd go prematurely bald.

"Look, people hate their lawyers, but to sacrifice himself to kill Douglas… that's going a bit far, don't you think? It can't be the end of it. I'll see if I can get my hands on his case files or at least find out who else was involved in Doyle's case," Alex said. He admitted she had a good point.

"Speaking of court, how did it go yesterday?"

"Oh, please don't remind me. My mother's lawyer trampled us. I don't know how she managed to get Shepard on her case. She's a fantastic lawyer and her fee is far more than my mother can afford."

"So is that a bad thing or a good thing? Which side do you want to win?" Jacob asked carefully.

The line was silent for a moment. "Listen Jake, I just had an idea. I'll call you back. Gotta go."

"Alex–" he tried, but the line was already dead. "Damn."

* * *

><p>Using the computer in the hotel lobby, Alex managed to find the right address. Getting on a bus, she drove for nearly an hour.<p>

The neighborhood she came to was considerably better than the one she'd grown up in. The houses were tiny, but they had small yards and the road out front wasn't too busy so children could play there.

She walked up to the white, Victorian style house. It had a sign above the door, reading '_Doyle's Hair Styling_'. The door to the shop was open and Alex entered, looking around. It really wasn't much of a salon. It had a single large mirror, with only one chair in front. The utensils were pretty basic and except for a spray bottle and curlers Alex probably could scrape all of the things together from her own bathroom supplies. The price list next to the mirror was pretty reasonable she supposed.

"The salon is closed. I'm not taking any customers." Alex turned around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. The woman that walked into the room was small, round and somewhere in her late sixties, early seventies, with red-dyed hair. "This is a house of mournin'," she said with a thick Irish accent. No doubt that was Mrs. Doyle, Aidan Doyle's mother.

"I'm not here for a haircut," Alex said truthfully. "I'd like to ask some questions about your son."

Mrs. Doyle turned around to the door that separated the shop from her home. It stood ajar and Alex could look into their kitchen. There was a man sitting by the table, eating lunch. He looked like a younger version of Aidan. "Reilly, what have you been up to now, you no-good layabout?"

"Actually, it's your other son, Aidan, that I'm here about," Alex corrected the woman, whose eyes widened in shock.

"What do you want to know?"

"Just wanted to know about his friends or acquaintances."

"Why won't you just leave him alone? Let him rest?" Mrs. Doyle said with a pained expression.

"Mrs. Doyle," Alex said calmly, deciding to stay with the truth, "your son's Defense Attorney was found dead the other morning."

"He was a good lad. He quit school when his dad died so he could support me and Reilly. He built me this salon." Tears were trickling down her cheek now. "It killed his spirit in there."

"I'm very sorry for your loss." Alex wasn't even really aware that she was starting to sound like police.

"You have no idea," Mrs. Doyle said sadly. "Get out. Get out now." She turned away, to go back into the kitchen.

Her other son, Reilly got up from the table and came towards Alex while his mother disappeared into the house.

"You shouldn't have done that. Made her cry. If you come around here again you'll live to regret it," the man said, trying to seem as intimidating as possible, but he wasn't his brother's caliber.

"You're not like your brother," Alex said with a calm voice. "He might actually have intimidated me."

"Everyone who crosses this family gets hurt. Now that's not an intimidation, it's a fact." He bent towards her as close as possible without touching her face. Alex could smell garlic on his breath. But she firmly held her ground.

"Reilly." Mrs. Doyle was standing in the doorway, looking at her son with a stern expression. Obediently he turned away from Alex and went back to his lunch. Mrs. Doyle remained where she was, fixing her gaze on Alex. "On your way then," she said and there was something threatening in her voice. Alex decided to follow the orders. If that tiny woman could control both her prone-to-violence sons, then Alex sure wouldn't cross her.

"Well, that was a waste of time," she mumbled once she was back at the bus stop.

"So how long do I have this time before you cut me off again?" Jacob asked, sounding irritated.

"Depends on the conversation," Alex said honestly. She could hear him sigh and could picture him running his hand through his short, glossy black hair. A sudden desire to run her own hands through his thick hair overcame her. She shook her head, clearing her mind of the strange notion. _What the hell was that?_ she wondered.

"I just want to know if I'll see you again," he said, his voice calmed down now.

"That's not my choice right now," Alex replied, avoiding the hidden question of whether she _wanted_ to come back to Forks.

Again he sighed. "Fine, I'll drop it. You can talk to me about it when you want to."

"Thank you," she replied, truly grateful. She really didn't know what she should tell Jacob. She had no idea how she was supposed to feel about the fight over her guardianship. She loved Charlie, in those two short months he'd become the father she'd never had and she'd never felt as comfortable anywhere like she did in Forks with Gillian, the pack and, of course, Jacob. But Miranda was her mother and while most of Alex's memories of her where of a darker nature, there had been good times as well whenever Miranda had been able to remain clean for a while. And now she was fighting to keep her daughter and she appeared in court for every hearing looking clean.

"So, what made you leave so abruptly earlier?" Jacob asked to change the subject. Alex smiled. He could be across the country and still knew when he needed to get her thoughts in a different direction.

"I went to visit the Doyles," Alex answered.

"_You did what?_" he nearly shouted in horror. "Alex, that was stupid! Even for your standards."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she shot back indignantly. Alex prided herself in her sharp wit and not even Jacob had the right to call her stupid, not even in the heat of argument.

"Like chasing after demons," he replied.

"I was chasing after a demon when I had a werewolf partner. Before that I was _only_ chasing a werewolf," she reminded him.

Jacob snorted. "Yeah, you would have handled a grown werewolf much better," he said sarcastically.

"Let's not argue, okay? There are more important matters at hand."

"Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "What did you find out?"

"Well, I wanted to find out about possible people Doyle would have contracted to kill Douglas, assuming the '_revenge beyond the grave_'-card doesn't play out."

"Doesn't sound like you were very successful."

She quickly explained to him what had happened and had to hold her cell phone away at arm's length when he started yelling about her getting threatened by some lowlife. Sometimes it really did surprise her just how colorful and inventive his vocabulary could be.

"Was that even a word?" she asked after a while, once his rant started slowing down, smirking.

"Who gives a shit?" he snapped back.

"Well, maybe I could use it in scrabble. It should give me at least a triple score," Alex said, her grin growing even wider.

"Very funny," Jacob huffed and she couldn't keep from laughing anymore. After a moment he joined in. "Seriously though, please be more careful," he continued once their laughter died down.

"Nothing would have happened. It was broad daylight out and we were in the middle of a suburb. Hardly the time and place to wack someone." Besides, she could have probably taken the younger Doyle. He wasn't that much bigger than her and wasn't nearly as broad in the chest as his brother had been. Also, she doubted that he had any fight training, beyond brawling. Alex knew perfectly well that Jacob had a hard time picturing her as someone who could defend herself and she was sure that the reason for that was that he still thought of Bella a lot and from what Alex had heard about her cousin, she'd been utterly defenseless.

"You're the one aspiring to become a cop; how often does that happen anyway?" he asked in an ironic tone and she had the urge to stick out her tongue at him. Not that he would have seen it.

* * *

><p>Brian Atterton hurried to the parking space. It was already very late and the only lights came from the street lamps. Usually that was more than enough, but tonight the pale, orange light they emitted made his skin crawl for some reason.<p>

He felt watched and the sensation made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. When he reached the parking space, he fumbled for his car keys, pulling them out of his pocket and nearly dropping them in shock when the alarm from the car next to him went off. He hadn't even come close to it.

_Technology_, he thought, with a shake of his head, _can't live with it, can't live without it_.

Gripping his keys tighter he went on, only to jump again when the next car alarm went off. Then another and another. Something was strange.

The frightening sensation of having eyes on him returned full force and Atterton staggered to his car, looking around frantically as he unlocked his car door. Hastily he put the key into the ignition and turned it. The car came alive with a low roar and Atterton looked over his shoulder in reflex. There was no one there.

Fixing his eyes back up ahead he caught a motion in his rear view mirror. His heart gave a jolt in shock as he recognized the bare-chested figure walking towards his car. Aidan Doyle. With a pentagram carved on his chest and oddly grayish-pale skin. Fear gripped him. Doyle here could not be a good thing. Did he know? Was he coming for revenge?

Atterton looked back again, but there was nobody. Was he imagining things? It was probably just because of Douglas's recent death. Who would have guessed that health-freak would go before him?

With a sigh of relief he slumped back against the back of his chair.

He was about to reach for the ignition again when two arms appeared through the roof of the car, reaching down straight into Atterton's chest, icy fingers closing around his heart.

Atterton had no chance to scream as the life was squeezed out of him…

* * *

><p><strong>I have to say I was pretty disappointed at the amount of reviews on the last chapter. Yeah, I know it wasn't that exciting, but unfortunately I have to get some information in, too. It is, after all, a murder case, not just a love story. The actual love story, by the way, is going to begin in the next chapter. If you want to read the next chapter, I suggest you review this one. <strong>

**I keep telling you people, I've finished writing Alex and Jacob's story, down to the last word (well, perhaps not the last word, I'm still correcting and tweaking here and there). For all intents and purposes, I could upload a chapter every day. The speed with which I upload the chapters is entirely up to the readers and reviewers. Believe me, it is seriously frustrating to have over five thousand hits on a story, but only thirteen reviews. I don't have to upload more chapters, I can save myself the trouble if no one's planning on giving me any feedback.**

**So, I hope for a few more reviews in the future and please keep in mind, _you guys control how often I upload_. You want to know what happens next ASAP? _Review!_**

**_P.S._ After Blood Bonds I'll start uploading my short story collection of Alex and Jacob's life together. If there is anything you would like to read about, _you have to tell me_.**


	6. Kiss

**Chapter 06: Kiss**

Alex and Charlie had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant the next morning. The scrambled eggs were pretty much tasteless and the toast was slightly burned on one side, but Alex didn't really care. She skimmed the local section of the newspaper, while sipping on her orange juice – the only half-way decent nourishment so far.

"Damn, Mariners lost against Angels yesterday," Charlie hissed, scanning the sports section. He was referring to the baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and the Los Angeles Angels.

"How bad?" Alex asked.

"Score's 6 to 8," Charlie replied with a frown. "Guess I owe Billy fifty bucks now."

"How did the Tigers do?" Alex asked.

"Detroit Tigers, Tigers, Tigers," Charlie mumbled as he searched for Alex's favorite team. "They lost 3 to 5 to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays," he finally answered.

"Ouch," Alex said with a wince. "Well, that's humbling."

She returned to going through the newspaper until an article drew her attention. '_Prosecutor Found Dead In His Car_'. She quickly flew over the article and her heart started beating faster. _Prosecutor Brian Atterton (47) was found dead in his car this morning – worked long last night – alone in his office – police thinks it was cardiac arrest – residents reported multiple car alarms going off around estimated time of death – possibly murder_.

Alex was almost willing to bet all the little money she owned that Atterton had been Prosecutor in Aidan Doyle's case fifteen years ago. _Damn_, she thought. She'd hoped against all reason that Douglas would be the only victim. But she wasn't really surprised. She definitely needed to find out who else had been on the case.

"I'm going to go to the public library today," Alex informed Charlie.

"You have holidays. No school work." He looked at her confused.

"No, but I still have an old library book I have to return," she lied smoothly.

"Oh," Charlie said. "Well, I'll see you later then."

"For lunch?"

"Yeah, but not here," he replied, scowling down at his half-eaten plate. Alex grinned.

"If you take a cab, there's an Outback Restaurant just about fifteen minutes from here on Eureka Road. We can meet there," Alex suggested.

"How about around two? That'll give you plenty of time to bring back your book and do whatever else teenagers do in Detroit."

"You should be glad if I _don't_ do whatever else teenagers do in Detroit. But I might stop by the Greenes' place for a while."

They said their goodbyes and Alex left the hotel and got on the first bus to take her downtown. The library had an archive of old newspapers, one they had finally digitalized last year.

Sitting down in the quiet corner in front of the monitor she typed '_Aidan Doyle + Conviction_' into the search box, pressed enter and waited while the slow computer began to search for articles containing the wanted information.

After a few minutes the screen returned with the completed search. About twelve thousand articles contained one of the words, but the first one already looked promising enough. Alex clicked on it and read through it quickly.

It was definitely about Doyle's case. It mentioned Douglas as his Attorney and Atterton as the Prosecutor. A Simon Rigsby was named as judge. Witnesses' names had been left out.

Looking through some of the other articles and even refreshing the search did not spit out any more names, but at least Simon Rigsby was something she could work with. Starting a new search she looked up anything she could find about Justice Rigsby. There wasn't much of importance; he was 58 years old, divorced twice, currently in his third marriage with a woman almost half his age (though they seemed to live apart), Harvard law alumnus, no children, no other immediate family. All in all, a very ordinary life.

Sending a copy of the article to Gillian via e-mail (Jacob took forever to read his e-mails), Alex shut the system down. Looking at her clock she noticed it was barely past eleven. She still had plenty of time to visit Chenille and Derek.

* * *

><p>Jacob sat poring over the pamphlet his math teacher had handed him on the last day of school. In spite of missing practically half the school year he'd finished Trigonometry top of the class. Math was something he was particularly good at. It was logical, there were rules to it and using them came almost as naturally to Jacob as breathing. It was as simple as putting together a car.<p>

His teacher had suggested to join her summer crash course of Calculus. Six weeks of intensive studying with a final exam at the end. If he passed he could move on to Advanced Placement Calculus in his senior year, which would bring him considerable credit if he applied to colleges. _If_.

With a sigh he leaned back, his head resting on the back of the couch. He wanted to go to college. He'd had his eye on the University of Washington since his freshman year. It wasn't too far away so he could come home in his semester breaks and for Christmas.

But that had been before he'd turned into a werewolf. Even then there had always been the issue of leaving his sick father behind. Now there was the added problem of his responsibility to his pack and his tribe as the Alpha. He just wanted a chance to see a little bit more of the world. He loved La Push, it was his home, it was where his family and his friends lived, but it wasn't the world.

"Jacob," Billy called out, wheeling towards the living room. Jacob shot up, grabbed the pamphlet off the coffee table, folded and hid it in his back pocket. He didn't want Billy to see it. Billy would want Jacob to do it, think of his own future. If Jacob, however, chose to stay in La Push to take care of him, Billy would forever hold himself responsible for ruining his son's life. Jacob had to make this decision all on his own without his father's input. And without the packs'.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking at his father innocently as he wheeled into view.

"Have you heard from Alex lately?" Billy wanted to know, concern written all over his features.

"I talked to her just last night. She said she was fine. She's doing a bit more research today, so she'll probably call again tonight." Maybe he'd been a little too calm about it, because Billy looked at him oddly. "She's just going to look through old newspaper articles. The worst thing that can happen is that she gets a paper cut."

"And then what?"

"I guess that depends on what she finds," he answered with a frown.

"She won't give up, you know," Billy said knowingly.

Jacob sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I know. Alex never gives up." He'd seen that when they'd faced the Demon Lord. All odds had spoken against Alex. She had been so close to death, but sheer strength of will and single-minded determination had overcome her body's failing and had conquered the Demon Lord.

He admitted that, if anyone could hunt down and stop a vengeful ghost, it was Alex.

"No, she doesn't," Billy chuckled. "Admirable that girl."

Jacob smiled. God, he missed her.

* * *

><p>"Hey Derek," Alex said when he opened the door.<p>

"Alex! It's good to see you." He pulled her into a rib-crushing hug.

"Wow, Derek, if I didn't know better I'd say we haven't seen each other in half a century or something," she smiled once he released her. He smiled back at her broadly, his white teeth shining in contrast with his dark chocolate skin.

"It almost feels like that. Maybe because that's very likely to happen," he replied.

"Hardly. We'll always keep in touch. It's always good to have a doctor as a friend."

"I'm not a doctor yet," Derek said and ushered her into the air-conditioned house out of the blazing heat of the last day of May.

"But you will be," Alex said, convinced of it. Derek had wanted to be a doctor for as long as Alex had known him and, according to Chenille, long before that, too. "Where are the others?"

"The twins are at a friend's house. I actually have to pick them up in two hours. Mom and Dad are working and Chenille went to the mall with some of her girls. She considered calling you, but you've never been much of a shopper," Derek explained.

"No, I'm not," Alex agreed. She only went shopping when she absolutely had to. She usually had to go to second-hand stores, because she could barely afford anything in the malls, not when her low income had to cover the rent and the bills. "Guess it's just us then." She noticed the strange look that crossed Derek's face when she said that; a mixture of excitement and nervousness. "What?"

"Nothing," he assured her. "It's just… we've never really been alone together."

That was true, she realized. There'd always been someone around with them, usually Chenille. "I can go if you feel uncomfortable."

She made to leave, but he quickly jumped forward and grabbed her wrist, holding her back. "No, that's not what I meant, I…"

"You are behaving really weird lately, Derek. What's going on? Is it 'cause I'm leaving? I already told you, I'm not going to forget about you guys."

"What will you remember me as?"

That question caught her off-guard. "What do you mean?"

"Am I always going to be just Chenille's older brother? The one that went to med school?" The hand that had been around her wrist slipped down to her hand, holding it.

"Of course not. You're… Derek. What else should there be?"

He sighed heavily. "I always thought I'd have an infinite amount of time for this and suddenly out of nowhere I've been given a deadline."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about this…" Instead of saying anything else, his free hand came up to softly wrap around the back of her neck and his face suddenly moved toward hers.

Too stunned to move Alex didn't stop his progress and his lips met hers. He began to move his lips against her impassive ones. Something registered through the shock; soft and warm – his lips.

Overcoming her initial surprise, she closed her eyes and began to kiss him back, her arms snaking around the back of his neck. The hand that had previously held hers moved to her waist and she could feel the warmth of his touch on the thin strip of bare skin between her jean shorts and the tank top she was wearing.

Alex was surprised at just how good it felt to kiss Derek. His lips molded perfectly to hers as he pulled her closer against his strong chest. It was somehow right. Derek was a perfect match for her.

They broke apart after a while – Alex wasn't certain how much later; five minutes, an hour, a day, it didn't really matter. Both were breathing hard, their foreheads touching.

"Alex, I've liked you for quite some time now," Derek confessed.

"Damn, Derek," she said, moving a step back. "If you would have told me sooner we could have had a shot at being a couple."

"We still can," he insisted, putting his hands on her shoulders, holding her like he was afraid she'd run.

"No, we can't," she replied. "You're going to college, I'm moving to Forks… It's going to be hard enough to uphold a friendship at this distance. A relationship would never handle it, particularly not one that's just beginning."

He gave a humorless laugh. "Always thinking with your head, never your heart."

"I'm sorry, Derek. Under different circumstances, I think we could have had something good. But considering how things are we'd just both end up unhappy." She raked her fingers through her wild mane of curls. "I should go. I have a lunch appointment with Charlie." She still had plenty of time, but she couldn't stay right now. They both had to get their heads on straight again.

"I'll see you around before you leave, right?" Derek asked, when she stood in the open door, the hot air spilling in from outside.

"Yeah, of course you will," Alex promised.

"Good, 'cause Mom invited you and your uncle to dinner on Sunday."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," she said, turning toward him to give him a warm smile, before leaving.

* * *

><p>"Hello buddy," Paul greeted Jacob, patting him on the back.<p>

"You too?" Jacob asked, not entirely able to keep the note of irritation out of his voice.

"Naturally," Paul said and sauntered over to where Jared and Quil were plundering his fridge. For some reason both the packs had gathered in his little home. He sure hadn't called them and so far no one had bothered explaining to him what was going on.

"What's this all about?" he asked when Rachel moved over to him. She'd come with Paul, just like Emily had come with Sam and Kim had arrived with Jared. Quil had even brought over his grandfather, Quil Sr., and Sue had joined her children on the couch.

"You're about to find out," Rachel said, smiling broadly at him.

"Alright, alright, settle down everyone," Billy called over the noise of the crowd. It was difficult to move in the small space. The house was already too small for a man in a wheelchair and a seven foot tall boy; it just didn't have the capacity of accommodating two wolf packs, their imprints and the council members.

Everyone fell quiet, only chewing noises could be heard in the direction of the now probably empty fridge.

"I actually intended to give this to you alone, but, seeing as everyone pitched in, it seemed only fair that they should be here," Billy said, slowly maneuvering his way through the sea of legs to come to a stop in front of Jacob. He held out a thick envelope to him.

Confused, Jacob took the envelope from Billy and turned it over to open it. It hadn't been sealed. Opening it he first pulled out two long white sheets of thick paper. Looking down on it he realized they were plane tickets; one to take him from Seattle to Detroit and the other to fly back.

Speechless, he stared at the tickets with his mouth hanging wide open. He shook his head slightly, incapable of formulating any words.

"That's not all," Embry said, beaming, motioning for Jacob to look into the envelope again, impatient to see his best friend's next reaction. He'd been so shocked by the tickets he'd completely forgotten about the envelope.

When he looked inside again, he was sure he would faint at any second. There was a small stack of hundred-dollar notes inside. "How… How…" he couldn't wrap his tongue around the question.

"There's two thousand dollars in there," Billy informed him. The room around Jacob spun for a moment. He was pretty damn sure that he'd never held that much money in his life. Added together.

"I can't accept this," Jacob said breathlessly, his fingers simultaneously tightening around the tickets. He knew what they were for and he wanted it so bad. Go to Detroit, make sure Alex survived her ghost hunt and then bring her home. Kidnap her if necessary.

"Of course you can," Quil said, putting an arm around Jacob's shoulders. "Consider it as the birthday and Christmas presents for the next ten years."

"Sue arranged everything. She's booked you a room in the same hotel Charlie and Alex are staying in," Billy said. "The extra cash is for food, transportation and whatever else you might need during the stay."

Jacob looked back down at the tickets. It was holiday season. Buying them on such short notice must have cost a small fortune. The dates said that he'd be flying to Detroit tomorrow and returning in a week. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't say anything, little brother," Rachel said, pushing him towards his room. "You go pack. Do it now, so I can repack for you later." Everyone chuckled.

"Thank you, everyone. This is really…" There was no word that could do this justice.

"Go get her, tiger," Kim said, flushing furiously when everyone turned to stare at her. "What? Figure of speech," she added sheepishly.

Embry chuckled. "Yeah, what Kim said."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, yeah I know, took forever to get Alex and Jake back into the same state, but at least this time you didn't have to wait very long. Next chapter has a - somewhat bittersweet - reunion. <strong>

**Uh, about the Derek kissing Alex part... well I kinda wanted to use that to get one major difference between Alex and Bella out there (if you're a Bella and Edward fan, do not read the contents of the following brackets). Alex is a head person! While Bella is always in her heart and all (whiney and _over_-) emotional, Alex tends to make her decisions primarily in her head. Even when it comes to relationships. Ever wonder if Alex would make a good partner for Edward? _NO!_ For a guy, Edward is way too emotional and romantic (obsessive and controlling) for Alex. He's the fairytale prince charming. And the thing about fairytales... they're just that. If it's too good to be true, chances are it's _not_ true. Alex needs a down-to-earth, real kind of guy who understands the way her mind works. Being more rational also means she's less likely to over react and interpret more into a situation than there actually is. **

**Her character is kinda a combination of who I am and who I would like to be and I have a serious dislike for over-emotional girls. I'm really sorry, but I do. My sister for example (don't get me wrong, I love her, I could just kill her sometimes); her ex is in the same class as her (lets look past the fact that it's stupid anyway to go out with someone who goes to your school, let alone class, cause it always ends bad and you can't really avoid each other) and after their break-up he wasn't exactly charming (still isn't and I think they've been apart for at least three years now) and he said something mean and I tried making her feel better, had a at least fifteen minute speech about how he's an asshole and doesn't deserve her (cause he totally still wants her) and after those fifteen minutes my sister's summary of that speech was as follows: (all angry) "So you think I have bad taste in guys?" Completely beside the point, never crossed my lips or my mind, but somehow - having that freaky girl power where every "you look great" goes through a million and one loops around the brain, being analyzed and taken apart, and spit out as a "you think I look too fat" - it was the only thing my sister interpreted into my speech. Seriously, to all you girls out there, who tend to over-analyze and misinterpret, sometimes a "you look great" really only means "you look great", no hidden meaning or agenda. Trust me, life is a whole lot sweeter if you don't try to look for something negative in every compliment. And guys, sometimes it's just simpler to pretend you didn't hear her, because you just can't win. Anything you say can and will be misquoted and used against you.**


	7. Tears

**Chapter 07: Tears**

Alex sat next to Charlie on a bench just outside the courtroom. It was still a good twenty minutes before their hearing, but Charlie had wanted to talk to their lawyer beforehand. The only problem was that Mr. Hopwood wasn't showing up.

"Where the hell is he?" Charlie asked angrily.

"Probably hiding under his desk from Shepard," Alex answered with a shrug and Charlie snorted.

"Yeah, scary woman," he agreed. "I'll go look for him. Do you mind if I leave you alone for a moment?"

The real answer was _yes_. She didn't want to be left alone in the same building her mother was in. "Of course not," she said instead. Charlie gave her a nod and walked down the hall and around the corner, out of sight.

Alex sighed and leaned back against the hard back of the bench, her posture tense and stiff no matter how casual she wanted to come across as. She exhaled a shaky breath, looking around every once in a while – too often to be considered laid-back – making sure she was still safe.

She didn't think she could handle talking to her mother right now. It was hard enough seeing her crying in court, she was pretty sure she'd blow the whole thing off if Miranda got a chance to talk her out of it. And Alex didn't want to stay. She was sick. And tired. Sick and tired of everything she'd been put through.

Living in Forks with Charlie and Jacob had been so carefree. For the first time she'd felt like she had a chance in life to become the person she wanted to be, to do bigger things, to see the world. She felt like she could breathe again without ever having noticed that she couldn't.

Leaving those two and her chance of a new life behind at the airport when she'd gone back to Detroit had been without a doubt the hardest thing she'd ever done up to that point. Somehow Alex knew that leaving Detroit wouldn't be nearly as hard. Aside from the Greenes there was nothing that held her here. Except Miranda and by now Alex knew that her mother was the worst reason for her to stay. She'd spent seventeen years taking care of her mother and being dragged down with her. She had to think of herself now or she would soon pass the point of no return.

"Alright, we're back," Charlie announced when he approached the bench, followed closely by Hopwood. Alex got up and was surprised when Charlie put an arm around her shoulders. "He said he'd lost a clip, but I'm sure he really _was_ hiding under his desk," he whispered into her ear and Alex giggled. He gave her shoulder one more reassuring squeeze before letting go and heading into the courtroom. Alex looked after him, smiling. Her head knew perfectly well where she belonged and so did a part of her heart, but the other part – a slightly smaller part – wasn't ready to give up on Miranda. It probably never would.

It had been mostly Hopwood's turn to talk and Alex had held her head in her hands most of the time, shaking her head at the man's incompetence. She was just glad that the case practically spoke for itself. Hopwood managed to somehow stutter out Miranda's shortcomings as a mother due to her drug addiction. He even remembered to mention her multiple sentences to prison and rehab, neither of which had ever shown long-lasting results. No judge in his right mind would send Alex back to that, right?

Miranda, however, while still looking terribly pale, sick and malnourished, seemed completely clean.

For a while Alex watched Charlie. His gaze drifted over to his little sister every once in a while and the expression that crossed his face was one of pure anguish. Alex could have kicked herself. She'd been so absorbed in her own fears of facing her mother, that she'd never thought about how much it must hurt Charlie to see his baby sister like this.

Charlie was six years older than Miranda. He'd always been the good son, the one his parents would brag about to their friends. Their mother had never made much of a secret out of the fact that she would have much preferred a second son instead of a daughter, being of a rather old-fashioned mindset. Thus Miranda never got the love and attention from her parents that she'd craved. It was a downward spiral; the more her parents neglected and disparaged her, the more she tried to gain their attention by doing disreputable things, the more her parents neglected and disparaged her.

It all escalated into Miranda running away from home at the age of fifteen. She'd gone to Los Angeles, wanting to become an actress. What exactly happened then, nobody really knew. All everyone knew was that four years later a nineteen-year old Miranda came back to Forks, very pregnant, high on drugs and all out of money, with nowhere else to go. Her parents did the only thing they could consider proper in this case; they sent her away, disowned her and the unborn child and pretended they'd never had a daughter. Nor did they ever want anything to do with their bastard grandchild.

Charlie, at the time, had to deal with his own grief over his failed marriage and losing both his wife and his daughter.

Alex had been born in a hospital in California. For some reason Miranda had never considered abortion or putting Alex up for adoption. Alex was grateful for the first. Kind of for the second, too. Who knew how things would have turned out if she had been sent to an orphanage. Maybe she would just have been pushed around from foster home to foster home until she reached legal adulthood.

The moment Miranda had recovered from the birth she'd left California with Alex. They'd moved to Michigan when Alex had been around three. Where they'd been in the meantime Alex didn't know, but she did know that her mother had never again set foot in either California or Washington.

"I have to get a drink," Alex said quietly to Charlie and he nodded. With weak knees Alex got up and walked out of the courtroom. The moment the doors swung closed behind her the tears started running down her cheeks and she quickly headed to the bathroom before anyone could see.

Standing in front of the mirror, Alex willed the tears back. The last thing she wanted now was red, puffy eyes as evidence that she'd had a small breakdown. Wiping the tear streaks away, she turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on her face. Leaning over the sink, propped up on her elbows, Alex kept her eyes closed for a moment, letting the water drip off her nose and chin.

The door to the bathroom opened and closed as someone walked in, stopping just inside the door. Alex didn't need to look up to know who it was. "How did you know where I was?"

"I know you, baby girl," Miranda answered. "You looked distressed just now and you'd never let anyone else see you down. Where else would you have run to?"

"I suppose that wasn't too hard to figure," Alex replied. But not entirely true. There was one person who'd seen her down, who'd seen just how broken and hurt she was on the inside. An iron band seemed to close around her chest, cutting off her oxygen. She needed him right now, more than ever. She needed Jacob. She needed a place to run to while her world crashed down around her.

"Won't you even look at me?" her mother asked, sounding sad.

Alex finally looked up into the mirror. Though Miranda stood by the door, in the mirror their reflections stood next to each other and Alex shivered at the resemblance between them. Alex was her mother's spitting image, with the exception of her gray eyes – eyes she'd probably inherited from a father whose name she didn't even know. Miranda's emaciated reflection showed a future that was still all too possible for Alex.

_She'd been pretty once_, Alex thought as she studied her mother's reflection. She'd seen pictures. But all that beauty had been carved away by the hard life.

At thirty-six, Miranda's face showed all the wear from too much liquor and drugs, too many pills and far too many men.

"What do you want?" Alex asked, trying to keep her voice even and unemotional.

"I want to talk to you. I want to talk with my little girl," Miranda said, drawing her face into a teary expression. But the tears wouldn't come.

Disgust at the calculated acting rolled through Alex, and she clung to it. Better disgust than the despair that crept just underneath it.

"I'm not a little girl," Alex said. "Yours in particular."

"Don't be mean, honey. You don't want to say things you'll regret."

"_Regret?_" Alex spun around, fury coiling in the pit of her stomach like a snake about to strike. "I regret wasting seventeen years of my life! I regret not having stayed in Forks when Charlie first offered to take me in! I regret that I've gotten too damn close to going down the same road you did!"

"Don't," Miranda pleaded, real tears flowing down her sunken-in cheeks now, tracking through her heavy makeup. "I made some mistakes, I know I did, baby girl. Don't push me away, baby. You're all I got."

The anger crumbled in on itself. Miranda's words hit the painful nerve exactly. Somewhere in the back of Alex's mind a tiny voice was shouting that that was exactly what manipulative Miranda had intended. But the voice was nearly entirely drowned out by the others fighting against each other. A part of Alex wanted to go over and hug her mother, go home with her, but the other knew that it would be her own undoing.

"I never wanted to push you away, Mom," Alex said quietly. "But you're not giving me a choice."

"No, baby, I can change. I promise," Miranda sobbed. "Just… stay."

When Alex sat down beside Charlie again her head was spinning slightly and she was short of breath. She'd literally bolted from the bathroom, trying to escape the situation she suddenly found herself in.

Why the hell had she called Charlie that night? Why did she have to drag him into all this? If she chose to stay in Detroit she'd just hurt him and he'd suffered enough with his daughter practically abandoning him. And everyone else in Forks was expecting her back, too – the pack, Gillian, Sue, Billy. Jacob.

The iron band closed around her again, making breathing almost impossible. Alex had always stood on her own two feet just fine and that wasn't about to change. She'd never let that change. But she wanted Jacob here with her. The warmth of his embrace would melt the iron band and his mere presence would chase all her dread and despair away.

Alex didn't notice much about the remaining hearing. Miranda had slipped back into her seat some ten minutes after Alex had returned. She'd tried several times to establish eye contact with her daughter, but Alex kept her gaze far away from Miranda.

When the judge finally called it a day, rescheduling for Wednesday, Alex jumped up, eager to get back to her room in the hotel. She didn't think she could keep the tears at bay for much longer and she didn't want to shed them in public.

"Ms. Swan, a word," Hopwood said, before she got a chance to even turn towards the exit. They walked to a corner of the courtroom, Charlie going on ahead to wait in the hall. "I just wanted to inform you that it's very likely that you'll be asked where you want to stay. You're old enough to make such decisions and the judge will consider your choice in his final verdict," Hopwood explained.

For a moment Alex couldn't get air into her lungs. She should have expected it. She had expected it, if she was honest with herself. But she wished she didn't have to be the one to make the choice. She didn't know what to do. If her decision was valued so highly then it wouldn't be just resigning to fate. It would be an active move – in whichever direction.

The cab ride was very silent. Neither Alex nor Charlie spoke a word, both absorbed in their own thoughts. Alex would have liked to know what Charlie was thinking about, but something about his expression told her he didn't want to talk about it so she didn't ask.

Over everything else she'd almost forgotten about Derek. Why did things always have to be so complicated? Why couldn't he have told her about his feelings for her sooner? Or kept quiet? She liked Derek. A lot. She honestly didn't know if she loved him, but she probably could have. In time, anyway. He already was one of her best friends.

"Everything alright?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, things just aren't turning out the way I thought they would." Which was something Alex had serious trouble with. She liked being able to predict how events turned out, how people would react.

"I know what you mean," Charlie said. He remained quiet for a while, then spoke again, "It's not the first time I have this fight, you know?"

"What fight?"

"You were about two or three. I was looking for your mother – and you, of course. It took me nearly a year to track her down in Detroit and I came by for a visit." He sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "When I saw her I knew it was too late to save Miranda. I offered to take you with me, raise you. But she wouldn't hear any of it. We shouted at each other until you started crying. I left for the night and you two were gone the next morning. I probably could have found you again, but I didn't have the strength. I was still trying to get own life back into focus." He gave a humorless laugh, shaking his head at the memory. Alex knew that, even to this day, the divorce was hard on Charlie. He still had his wedding photo on the mantle of the fire place in the family room. He'd just learned to deal with the pain. And around that time his parents had both died as well, so when he'd come looking for her, they'd either just died or had been very ill and needed his care. "And I couldn't bring myself to take my sister's only reason for still being alive."

"Why are you telling me this?" Alex asked, her voice cracking.

"Because you have to make a choice. And I want you to make that choice knowing all the details and all the consequences that will come with it," Charlie answered, sighing heavily. "If you leave, Miranda probably won't make it long. Whether she starves or freezes to death, because she can't afford food and shelter, or she commits suicide… it will happen."

"I know." Alex breathed, her voice failing.

"I wish it were different, believe me. She's still my baby sister, no matter what, but it's your future I have to think of now. And you have to think about yourself, too. You have to know what you can live with," Charlie said, putting a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "If she does die, however, keep in mind that it was due to a choice _she_ made."

The cab stopped in front of their hotel and they got out. Alex trailed behind as Charlie went on ahead. She could barely breathe anymore, her eyes stung with the tears she kept back and her insides felt like they were tearing apart.

She walked into the lobby, the air conditioning sending a chill down her back. It felt like it was back – the Demon Lord. It felt like it was standing right behind her, hovering over her.

"Uh, I have a reservation," she heard someone say at the reception desk.

"Name?" Alex didn't need to hear the man's name to recognize the dark, husky voice. She'd always recognize that voice. The voice that could chase the demon away and break through the fragile barriers she'd upheld throughout the hearing and the cab ride.

"Jake?" She turned to the reception.

* * *

><p>Jacob felt so stupid standing there, not knowing what to do. He'd somehow managed to find the right plane and had even managed to get a cab to the hotel once he landed in Detroit. Now he just needed to get into his room.<p>

"Uh, I have a reservation," he said to the woman at the reception.

"Name?" she asked. The annoyed expression on her face became one of cheap desire when she looked up at him. Well, not him exactly, her eyes never really got past his chest.

Jacob was about to answer when he heard someone say his name behind him quietly, with intense relief like he was the answer to a prayer. He turned around just in time to catch the body that flung itself at him, clinging to his shoulders as if he was a lifeline.

"Alex," he breathed, the wind knocked out of him. Not by the force of her tackle, but by the unexpectedly tremendous happiness to have her back in his arms – though it was slightly dampened the moment he realized that there was something terribly wrong with her. "Alex, honey, are you alright?" he asked quietly. She kept her face buried in his chest, even while she shook her head.

He turned back to the receptionist, who was green in the face with envy. "The name's Jacob Black."

"Ah, yes, one week, double bed," the woman said and Jacob nodded. Despite the wrong impression the woman was obviously getting about the double bed while he was holding Alex so close to him, he would definitely have to thank Sue. At least he'd be able to sleep in a bed without parts of his body dangling over the edges for once.

He took the key from the receptionist one-handed, keeping his other arm firmly wrapped around Alex's back. Though she made no sound, he could feel something wet soaking through his t-shirt and her body quaver slightly, so he knew she was crying. "Come on," he said gently, grabbing his suitcase with one hand and keeping her as close as possible with the other. She kept her face pressed to his shoulder. She didn't want anyone else to see her like this.

Ushering her into the elevator he pressed the second floor button. Once the doors closed they were alone. Jacob put down his suitcase again and pulled her back into a tight hug, resting his chin on top of her head. He could feel little shudders run through her body as she sobbed soundlessly.

They didn't talk until they were in Jacob's room. "What's wrong, Alex? Please tell me so I can help."

"You can't help me, Jake," she said, sniffling.

"Tell me anyway." He could already guess what had upset Alex so much. There really only was one thing that could get this sort of reaction out of her: Miranda.

"I don't know what to do, Jake. I just don't know," she sobbed, fresh tears running down her face. In spite of his worries, he noticed just how beautiful Alex looked, even with her puffy, red eyes and the red splotches on her skin.

Dispelling that thought he sat down on the end of the bed, pulling her onto his lap as she explained to him about her fears and worries, about what was happening in court and what Charlie had told her.

Jacob had no reply. He couldn't think of anything to say that would make her feel better. Course he could always make the usual empty promises that everything would turn out alright, but that wasn't what Alex needed right now.

He decided it was best to just keep quiet and let her cry herself out. It had been easier with Bella. Her sort of heartache had been something he'd managed to deal with, something he could comprehend. After all, he'd had his fair share of unrequited infatuations even before Bella had turned up. But he had no idea how Alex felt right now. This was something he'd luckily never had to deal with. So he gave her the only comfort he could give her; his full support, no matter what choice she'd make in the end…

* * *

><p><strong>So Jake and Alex are finally together again and you got a first glimpse of Miranda. Believe me, it won't be the last one, Alex is gonna go through a lot of emotional turmoil this time. Fortunately she has Jake with her now. Send me your reviews and I'm still hoping for a few ideas for the Short Story Collection of their lives together. I'll start posting those after Blood Bonds.<strong>


	8. Reunited

**Chapter 08: Reunited**

Jacob had grabbed a fresh shirt on the way out of his room as he followed Alex up to hers. He'd said the old one smelled bad from the travel. She assumed she'd need his sense of smell to understand that, because she'd had her nose buried in that shirt and hadn't smelled anything bad. Once in her room she'd gone into the bathroom to take a shower. As the hot water hit her skin new feelings began coursing through her: Happiness and contentment.

But also anxiety. Her heart was beating faster than it should at the very thought of Jacob in her room, only a door separating them. She didn't understand where these sensations were coming from.

Turning off the shower, she quickly dried up and put on a tank-top and pajama bottoms. It wasn't all that late yet, but she had no intention of leaving the room again today. Everything she needed was right there.

She opened the door, just as Jacob pulled the shirt she'd cried on over his head. Her heart sped up even more as she watched the muscles of his back, shoulders and arms ripple underneath his gleaming, russet skin. Her mouth had gone suddenly dry.

Jacob put on his fresh shirt, before he turned around, smiling at her radiantly. Alex was glad she was still holding on to the door knob, because her knees had turned into jelly all of a sudden. _What the hell is wrong with me?_ she thought.

"I went downstairs to get some sandwiches while you were in the shower," he said, pointing to a huge pile of food on the small round table in the corner next to the TV set. "I hope you don't mind, but the flight's been long and I'm starving."

"No, that's fine," she said, her voice sounding a little weak even in her own ears.

Jacob looked at her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Clearing her throat, Alex answered in a more steady tone, "Yeah, now I am. I'm just sorry."

"For what?"

"For the welcome," she admitted. "You fly all this way and the first thing I do is sob all over you."

"There are worse things than girls sobbing all over me," he replied with a cheeky grin.

She couldn't help but grin back. Jacob had that effect on the people around him, lifting their moods, making the day brighter – no matter how gloomy it started. "You know what I meant."

"It's no big deal. That's why I'm here anyway; emotional support. Plus, keeping you from dying while you chase after your ghost," he said, grabbing his discarded shirt off the floor and hanging it over the back of one of the two chairs flanking the little table.

"Is that all?" she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

"Well, not entirely…" Her heart sped up again as she watched him with anticipation. "I'm also here to issue you with an invitation to Sam and Emily's wedding in July."

"Oh," was Alex's only reply. What exactly had she hoped to hear? She didn't know, just… not that. "That's wonderful," she continued with a lot more enthusiasm. Both Sam and Emily had grown on her during her stay in Forks and she'd never met another couple more destined to be together. She truly was glad to see they were finally getting married. "How's Leah taking it?"

"Surprisingly well, actually," Jacob said, sitting down at the table and grabbing a sandwich. "She's found herself a boyfriend in Port Angeles. She seems pretty happy with him, too."

"Alright," Alex said, sitting down across from him. "Come on, spill all the juicy La Push gossip, Black."

He laughed at that, finishing the first sandwich within seconds before he spoke again, "Well, Rachel officially moved in with Paul and she got a job at the hospital – some sort of administrative position."

"I'm glad for them. Rachel's good for Paul."

"No kidding," Jacob said with a snort. Alex had only met Paul after he'd imprinted, but from Jacob's stories he used to be quite aggressive and volatile. Apparently imprinting on Rachel had mellowed him. He probably just needed a female touch in his life, being raised by his father since he was eight.

"And the others?"

"Not much has changed. It's only been three months, after all."

"What about you?" Alex asked, feeling way too eager about the answer.

"Not much has changed there either," he replied, smiling crookedly.

_Well_, Alex thought, _at least that's not bad news_.

"School?"

"I did pretty well, all things considered," Jacob said, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

"And?" she pressed, knowing there was something he wanted to get off his chest.

He sighed, putting down the sandwich he had been about to eat. Only two were left on the plate. "My teacher suggested that I join her Calculus crash course over the end of the summer holidays so I could take AP Calculus next year."

"That's fantastic, Jake. You could go to college then."

He didn't seem as happy as she thought he would be. "Yeah, I know and I want to go to college, it's just…" He'd gotten up and was pacing around the room, finally sitting down on the end of her bed. Alex got up and joined him, putting a hand on his shoulder, feeling the heat radiating off his skin.

"Just what?" she prodded.

"How can I, Alex?" he said, letting his head hang. "I've got my dad to take care of, and the pack, the tribe… the rest of my school work is suffering and I don't know if I can keep it together long enough without phasing accidentally."

With a sigh he let himself fall back onto the covers, staring up at the ceiling.

"Well," Alex said, lying down on her side, propping her head up on her hand to look down on him. "I think you should go through with it." He looked at her skeptically. "Jake, there's a life after the werewolf thing and let's face it, it's not going to last all that much longer. Leah's already moved away, only patrolling on weekends. Sam's about to marry, he'll quit phasing soon, at the latest when children start becoming an issue. I don't think it's going to take so much longer with Paul and Jared. The only one who's still stuck as a wolf is Quil, because he has to wait until Claire is old enough. Then you still have Embry, Seth, Collin, Brady and the other pups, but even they are going to stop eventually. I think you should take senior year to get your grades up and work on not phasing, or reduce it at least."

"But I'm the Alpha," he protested.

"So? Take the time to let someone else take over gradually. I suggest Quil, because he's the oldest of the ones that will remain. I don't think Embry's sticking with it much longer," Alex said. She moved to rest her head on his chest, one arm over his stomach. His arm automatically moved to rest around her waist, his fingers tracing small patterns on the thin strip of bare skin between the tank top that had ridden up slightly and her pajama pants, raising goose bumps along her spine. Lying in his arms like this felt right. And very good.

"And my father?"

"I'm sure Rachel would be willing to take care of him. You've taken care of him for years, Jacob. It's time for you to take care of yourself."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" he said with a smile, his arm tightening around her slightly.

"Yes, I do," Alex admitted and she was just as undecided. She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with Jacob's scent. The smell of pine, ocean breeze and his own personal, very masculine musk made her head all woozy.

"How about a movie?" Jacob said.

"Huh?" Alex asked, dragging herself out of her daze.

"We could watch a movie," he repeated himself, nodding in the direction of the television.

"Oh, yeah, we can do that." Jacob got up to get the remote, which had been unfortunately placed on top of the television. Feeling the loss of his warmth, Alex crawled up on the bed, stacking the pillows up so they could lie down and still see the screen.

Jacob returned to the bed and, to her great delight, pulled her back against his side as he turned on the television and began flipping through the channels.

"Ooh, stay there," Alex said suddenly. He'd already gone two channels further, but flipped back.

"_Wild Wild West_?" he asked, chuckling.

"Yeah, I totally love that movie," Alex replied, snuggling closer to Jacob's warmth. The air conditioner was on full force and her hair was still wet, but with Jacob she never felt cold.

"So do I," Jacob admitted.

As they watched Will Smith and Kevin Kline escape from the flying disks attracted to the magnetic, metal collars they'd been fitted with by the evil Dr. Loveless, Alex felt at peace with the world for the first time in quite a while. Somehow, without her noticing, Jacob had become a vital part of her life, one she was no longer willing to live without. If only she could keep him here in Detroit, then her problems would be solved. Some of them anyway.

"How is your investigation going?" Jacob asked once the end credits rolled.

"I'm planning on giving the judge a visit. Maybe he can explain some things to me, because Doyle is going through a little _too _much trouble to kill his lawyers. Besides, people either blame their Defense Attorney _or_ the Prosecutor, rarely both and hardly ever the judge."

"You think Doyle's going to go after the judge, too?"

"I don't know. It's more of a gut feeling," Alex admitted.

"Hmm," was Jacob's only reply. His hand had moved up to draw small circles on her shoulder and she only just managed to suppress a languorous sigh. "I didn't know you had a tattoo," he said quietly, glancing at her shoulder blade and pulling down the top slightly to reveal the rest of it. It was the image of two Menelaus Blue Morpho butterflies, a smaller one and a larger one, black swirls around them like fine dust clouds.

"I've had it for two years," Alex said. "I guess there wasn't much opportunity to showcase it in Forks."

"No, I guess not," Jacob said, tracing the tips of the larger butterfly's wings. "It looks very pretty – though I didn't exactly have you down as the kind of girl with butterfly tattoos."

"During that time I often fantasized about just flying away… like a butterfly," she admitted. "Go wherever I wanted to."

"It makes sense then." He remained quiet for a moment, his fingers having moved on to the smaller butterfly. "What about now? Do you still want to fly away?"

"Yes," Alex said honestly. "I'm just not sure if I have the wings for it."

"Then I'll be your wings… if you need me to be." Her heart nearly stopped beating at his words then continued at twice its previous beat. Why was she feeling all warm inside?

She turned her head slightly, breathing in his scent deeply. "I missed you so much, Jake." Only now did she realize the full extent of her longing for his closeness. It was far greater than she'd expected.

"I missed you, too," he mumbled, giving her a light peck on the top of her head. She could tell he was tired, he was already half asleep. She should tell him to go, to sleep in his own bed, but she couldn't get the words out. She didn't want him to go.

* * *

><p>When Jacob woke up the next morning he found himself still in Alex's bed, his arms wrapped around her tightly. His nose was buried in her mess of curls and he was inhaling the coconut fragrance of her shampoo. She'd changed it, he noticed. She used to use one with a more flowery scent. He liked this new one better.<p>

He looked over at the clock on her side of the nightstand and saw that it was already nearly noon. Alex was still fast asleep and Jacob was in no hurry to leave the warm comfort of the bed and her presence.

Pulling her a little closer to his chest he placed a kiss on her forehead. Her only reaction was a slight moan as her arm tightened around his waist. Smiling, he relaxed back onto the pillow, feeling more at peace with the world than he had in months. He was finally where he needed to be; by Alex's side, keeping her safe.

He let his hand trail over her lower arm, relishing in the soft warmth of her skin. Compared to his skin, hers was very pale, though the contrast wasn't nearly as strong as it had been with Bella. Alex had a naturally darker complexion than the rest of the Swan family and the sunny weather in Detroit had added a little more color.

He watched as the long sweep of her dark eyelashes brushed against the curve of her cheeks as her eyes moved underneath the lids, remembering that he'd already been fascinated by that the first time they'd met. Smiling, he raised his hand to caress softly over her lower jaw line. He'd knocked her out by accident then and she'd been unconscious on his couch, a large purple bruise forming on her jaw. Nothing on her smooth, flawless skin reminded of that now.

With a deep intake of breath he felt her heartbeat quicken and her breathing pattern change slightly as she woke up slowly.

"Morning," she mumbled when her eyes fluttered open. Jacob had always loved her eyes. They had different shades of gray, reminding him of storm clouds.

"Morning," he replied, smiling. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well," she answered, grinning at him "You make an awesome pillow."

"Always glad to be of service," he chuckled. "What are we going to do today?"

"How about grabbing a late breakfast and see where the road takes us from there?" He sure wouldn't say no to that.

"Do you want to talk to the judge today?"

She remained quiet for a moment, contemplating. "No," she finally answered. "I'll do that on Monday."

"We could do it tomorrow."

"No we couldn't. The Greenes invited Charlie and me to dinner. Which reminds me; I have to call Monica and ask if it's okay for you to join us."

"Is there a chance she might mind?" he didn't like the idea of being separated from Alex for only a few hours, not now when he'd finally gotten her back.

"No, but I guess it's only fair to warn her that you eat enough for five," she said with a smile, grabbed her phone and headed towards the bathroom. The call was quick and Monica had no trouble with Jacob tagging along. After that Alex cleaned herself up before returning. She looked at Jacob expectantly, but he could only return the look with confusion. "Do you want me to change in front of you?"

_Oh_, he thought. "If you don't mind," he replied, grinning wolfishly.

Her eyebrow shot up and he was pretty sure he was about to regret his comment. Sure enough she turned her back on him with a shrug and began to remove the tank top and pajama pants she'd slept in, her movements slower and more deliberate than was necessary for undressing. Heat spread up from Jacob's neck and his mouth had gone bone dry. By now he should know better than to challenge her. Alex had never been the self-conscious type like Bella – or most other girls. She was secure in her own body. _And damn, what a body it is!_

She only gave him a view of her bare back, but that was enough to get a good impression of the firm, yet feminine curves. He also got a much better view of the butterfly tattoo on her shoulder. He really did like it. It just fit there, like she'd been born with it.

"Happy now?" Alex asked once she'd pulled on jeans and a short-sleeved t-shirt over her head and turned to look at him.

"Satisfied," he replied, trying to ignore the fact that she hadn't bothered to put on a bra underneath.

"Don't you want to get done yourself?" she asked, smirking at him knowingly.

"I'm having a few technical difficulties over here," Jacob admitted, pulling on the waistband of his cut-off jeans, to readjust the fabric. It didn't really help against the pressure. The seventeen-year-old-hormonal-teenager-problem was rearing its ugly head at the moment.

"What a pity," she said still smirking, walking towards the door with a lot more swagger in her hips than usual. The seventeen-year old, hormonal teenager liked that, too. "Guess I have to go eat alone then." The werewolf didn't like that at all.

"That's not fair, Alex," he yelled after her when she was already halfway out the door. "You can't do that to me and then leave me alone in this state!"

"Not much I can do about it though, is there?" She stuck her head in the room again. For the sake of their friendship Jacob decided not to argue the point. "Right, I'm downstairs if you need me." She was safely out of the room before the pillow Jacob had thrown hit the door with a resounding bang. He really hadn't wanted to start his day with a cold shower…

* * *

><p><strong>Just some good natured fun. I hope you liked it. <strong>

**And before anyone gets that idea: the tattoo is not a recent addition to make Alex seem cooler. In my head she's had it from the beginning. Unfortunately, it was basically impossible to bring it up in Forks in the middle of February, which is why it was never mentioned in Blood Symbol. Trust me, I tried, but it never sounded right. **

**If you want a look at the tattoo I had in mind (more or less); **

**www (dot) tattoowatch (dot) com/pictures/butterfly_tattoos/blue_butterfly_tattoo_swirl (dot) jpg **

**I'm thinking of a tattoo for myself and that would be the one I want. Or something like that.**


	9. Revelation

**Chapter 09: Revelation**

Saturday and Sunday passed fairly quietly. Alex had spent most of the time dragging Jacob through the city, showing him all the places that had – at one point or another – held significance to her; the park just two blocks away from a former apartment she had lived in with her mother, her school (the chain-link fences and metal detectors had shocked him), the diners she'd worked at, the mall Chenille had always dragged her to (they hadn't spent much time there), a quaint little spot under a bridge where she would always go when life was at its worst and she just needed a timeout, the police station (which she'd seen under all possible circumstances), the orphanage where she'd stayed a few times while her mother had been away on one of her prison or rehab sentences (she still knew some of the older kids there), the cemetery (she'd always liked walking over cemeteries, they were always quiet and peaceful and if she went in far enough even the sounds of the city were drowned out), and a few more of the nicer hangouts she'd been to with friends.

"You've had quite the interesting life here," Jacob said. They were sitting in one of Alex's more frequently visited bars. She liked it because the bar tender didn't ask questions as long as you paid him.

She took a sip from her beer, watching three men play pool in one of the smoky corners under a dim lamp with an ugly green shade. "I've had a complicated life," she corrected him. Only when she'd shown him all the places she liked to go to, she'd realized that the places she'd gone to freely – the bridge, the cemetery, the park – had all been ways to escape her own life, drown out her lousy existence and just enjoy a moment of quiet.

"Hell, you dragged me to the police station," Jacob said with a grin, taking a swig of his own beer. "And they all knew you," he chuckled, shaking his head. Alex smiled slightly, still lost in her own thoughts. "I'm afraid Forks doesn't have that much to offer."

"It has other things to offer," Alex said quietly. "And I wouldn't need hideouts."

She was about to grab her bottle again when Jacob put his hand on hers. The heat of his touch shot up her arm as if she'd just touched a live wire, making goose bumps travel down her spine and something tighten in her lower stomach.

"You might," he said calmly. "Forks is a small place where everyone knows everything about everyone else. There might come a time when you want a timeout from that." He'd flipped her hand over so her palm was showing up and traced the scars on her wrist. He looked down at the red lines, frowning. "I was scared I would be too late."

"But you weren't," Alex said softly, putting her other hand on top of his. "You saved my life." After a moment she added so quietly that he could only pick up on it due to his supernatural hearing, "You still are."

"And I always will. Or at least as long as you'll let me." There it was again, only fleeting, but there none the less; the far-off look and the expression of pain on his face. Bella.

Alex had always pitied him for what had happened between him and her cousin, but this time it actually hurt and she didn't know why.

"You can save me as long as you want to, but there might come the day when you'll grow tired of it," she said, smiling, ignoring the feeling of hurt as well as she could.

"There might," he replied, smiling back, his eyes lighting up from obsidian black to a dark, rich brown exactly the way she remembered. "But not quite yet."

They continued talking, discussing the Doyle case again, swapping ideas and theories. It all came down to them having to talk to Judge Rigsby. Once the pool table cleared Alex pulled Jacob over to it and they played a round. Jacob was pretty good, considering he'd hardly ever played before. It was all math and physics, after all, and Alex already knew he was a genius with numbers. But she won in the end, her experience taking the upper hand.

"I thought girls let guys win," Jacob said, slinging an arm around her as they left the bar.

"First of all, that only applies to dates and we're not dating," Alex informed him, feeling a strange surge of regret in the pit of her stomach. "And second, I'm not the type to let anyone win."

"True enough," he chuckled. "I wouldn't want you to either," he added, pressing a light kiss to her temple. Alex didn't know if it was a wolf thing or a Jacob thing, but he was unusually open and affectionate for a boy his age. She liked it.

They met up with Charlie back at the hotel. He'd been very surprised when he'd found Alex sitting at the breakfast table with Jacob the other morning – once Jacob had had his cold shower. But he was delighted, too. No doubt, Charlie was betting on Jacob swinging Alex's decision about the guardianship in his direction.

Together they hailed a cab and drove over to the Greenes' place. Chenille was the one to open the door, no doubt eager to finally meet the infamous Jacob Black. She'd stared at him open-mouthed for a full five minutes, standing in the doorframe before Alex had stepped on her foot to snap her out of it.

Once the introductions were made, Chenille dragged Alex out of the dining room and into the adjoining living room. "Oh my God, please tell me he has a brother, I'll totally pack my bags and move to Forks with you," she said, giggling quietly. Out of the corner of her eye Alex could see Jacob grinning, his chest swelling slightly, perfectly able to hear every word.

"I've seen better," Alex lied to Chenille, watching gleefully as Jacob deflated again, shooting her a glare.

"Hell, if you don't want him, I'll take him," Chenille said, throwing an admiring glance into the kitchen. "Please tell me you've at least slept with him." Jacob had just taken a sip from the champagne Monica had offered him and swallowed it the wrong way, shocked by Chenille's words. Alex had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as he started coughing violently and Charlie had to clap him on the back.

"No, Chenille, we haven't slept with each other," Alex said, trying to sound annoyed rather than amused.

"So this is serious," Chenille whispered. Alex suddenly felt uncomfortable. Even with her whispering she was certain Jacob could still hear her. He definitely had his ears cocked in their direction.

"I don't know what you mean," Alex lied. She knew what Chenille was trying to get at, but it was ridiculous. There was nothing going on between Alex and Jacob. Then why did she feel like Chenille was about to blurt some secret out?

"I'm talking about–"

"Dinner's ready," Monica shouted from the dining room, because the twins and Derek were still in their rooms.

With a sigh of relief Alex went back into the dining room, standing beside Jacob, whose arm immediately came up to wrap around her waist. Chenille winked at Alex at the gesture and she rolled her eyes at her friend.

"What was that about?" Jacob whispered into her ear, bending down a little. His hot breath encircled her neck and cheek and Alex nearly dropped the champagne glass as a bolt of electricity surged through her body.

"Nothing important," she replied just as the twins and Derek arrived. Derek took one look at Jacob's arm around Alex and his expression darkened slightly. _Oh, great_, she thought, _this is going to be a fun evening_.

The boys introduced themselves to each other, Jacob perfectly at ease, Derek a little tense, trying to hide just how peeved he really was. Alex groaned inwardly. She really didn't have the nerve to deal with any jealous tantrums on top of everything else. She just hoped Derek could keep himself under control for the evening.

Everyone sat around the table, Charlie and Lieutenant Greene immediately striking up a conversation about work.

"So, Jacob," Chenille began, her voice a perfect imitation of her father's interrogation tone. "Do you have any hobbies?"

"I fix cars and motorcycles in my spare time, if you want to call that a hobby," he answered with a smile.

"A mechanic," she said, sounding impressed. "Is that what you want to do once you're done with school?" Why was this starting to sound like one of those '_What are your intentions with my daughter_'-conversations?

"Maybe, but I'd like to go more in the direction of mechanical engineering."

"So you'll be going to college next year, too?"

"I'd like to, but I'd need someone to take care of my father. He's got diabetes and is tied to a wheelchair," he explained.

"Oh, how terrible," Chenille said. Alex was just glad that she'd already told Chenille that Jacob's mother had died years ago in a car crash. Things would just turn awkward if she asked about that, too. "Any current attachments?"

"Smooth, Chenille. Very smooth," Alex mumbled sarcastically and Chenille glared at her.

Chuckling, Jacob answered anyway, "No. No current girlfriends."

"Have you been in many relationships?"

"Chenille!" Alex cried out indignantly.

"What? I'm curious," Chenille just said with a shrug and an innocent expression.

"I've been in maybe two meaningless ones, nothing that lasted long and one…" he swallowed slightly. "Well, let's just say it ended only recently." There was that hurt again in Alex's chest.

Fortunately Chenille had enough tact to not rub salt in open wounds and she skipped any further questions Alex was sure she had about Jacob's former relationships, particularly the last one. Jacob took the questioning in his stride, never wavering in his charms and infectious smiles, ignoring – purposefully or accidentally – Derek's glowering gaze on him.

Monica had made a three course meal and whenever they weren't eating Jacob held Alex's hand on top of the table in plain view of Chenille and Derek. Chenille's face lit up every time, while Derek scowled even more.

"I'm sorry about the interrogation," Alex said. Charlie had gone with the Lieutenant and his wife to see the rest of the house, Derek had volunteered to bring the twins to bed and Chenille had excused herself for a moment so Alex and Jacob were alone for a minute.

"Don't worry about it," he said, waving it off. "She's just trying to make sure I'll be good with you. Or maybe _bad_, I'm not entirely sure," he said with a grin. "Either way she has your best interest at heart."

"Just tell me if she gets on your nerves," Alex said. "Sometimes she doesn't know when to stop." Keeping her mind fixed on the sentences she was trying to form wasn't nearly as easy as Jacob played with her fingers absentmindedly, his larger, slightly rough hands tracing feathery light touches over her palm and fingertips. The tickling sensations seemed to travel all the way over her arm, down her body and collect somewhere behind her navel, making her stomach flutter with anticipation. For what she wasn't quite sure.

"Alright, I'm back," Chenille announced as she waltzed back into the room, smiling cheerfully. "Jacob, the others are out in the garage admiring dad's Old Timer. Maybe you wanna go check it out, too."

"Yeah, definitely," Jacob replied, his face lighting up like a child's who'd been told Christmas would come early this year. "Where to?"

Chenille gave him quick directions to the garage and then waited until he'd disappeared down the hall.

"Wow," she said, shaking her head. "Intense."

"Yeah, he loves cars," Alex agreed.

"That's not what I meant. " Alex looked up at Chenille with confusion. "I mean the two of you. And don't try to deny it," she added when Alex opened her mouth in protest. "I've watched you two all evening and from where I'm sitting you two might have already been a couple. The way you look at each other. Or the way he holds your hand. Or just now when you guys thought you were alone, it was even stronger then." She gave a tired laugh. "Poor Derek! Never stood a chance."

"You knew?" Alex asked, astounded.

"Of course I knew. Derek's been in love with you for at least a year now. Stupid idiot just never got the guts together to tell you. It's his own damn fault if someone else comes along and snatches you away."

"I can't believe you knew and never said anything."

"That's beside the point now," Chenille said, waving it off. "You love him. Jacob, I mean."

"Of course I do, he's one of my best friends."

"Maybe, but you love him as more than that, don't you?"

"Chenille, you're being absurd. Besides, even if I was – and I'm _not_ – Jake's still hung up on… the girl who left him. It was pretty nasty from what I heard."

"So? He's not going to be hung up on her forever and even while he is, he can still develop new feelings. Things like that happen all the time. And you," Chenille said, pointing a finger at Alex's chest, "you are head over heels in love with him."

With a frustrated sigh Alex leaned back in her chair. There was no point trying to argue with Chenille.

The cab ride back to the hotel was quiet. Everyone was tired. Jacob had put his arm around Alex again and she'd put her head on his shoulder, dosing off every once in a while. His head was resting on top of hers and she could feel his breath in her hair. She didn't want to sleep alone tonight, but she knew that a repeat of last night without the excuse of falling asleep while watching television would only make things awkward. But he really was an incredibly comfortable pillow.

"Good night," Jacob said with a yawn as he exited the elevator one floor before Charlie and Alex.

"Good night, see you at breakfast," Alex replied.

Despite the late time Alex still took a shower. She'd just come out of the bathroom, wrapped in a bathrobe when there was a knock on the door. Curious, she opened it and Jacob was standing there, breathing hard, his eyes dark with want.

"Jake, what are you–?" Before she could finish the question he'd stepped forward, grabbed her face in both his hands and kissed her. Not the tender kiss on the forehead he usually gave her. He kissed her on the lips, hard and forceful, full of passion and lust.

For a moment Alex remained motionless, shocked at the way he'd barged into her room, but then she melted into his embrace, one arm encircling his neck, while the fingers of her free hand threaded into his soft hair. She kissed him with the same reckless abandon he kissed her with, her body set ablaze with desire.

His tongue slid against hers, claiming her mouth and her stomach fluttered, her knees weakening. She probably would have turned into a puddle by his feet if it weren't for his strong arms wrapped tightly around her.

He ushered her into the room with growing urgency, never breaking the kiss, slamming the door shut with his foot. Her hand wandered under his shirt, caressing over the hard plain of his stomach, tracing his muscles. He tensed under her touch and she could feel the evidence of what she was doing to him press against her abdomen, sending a shiver of anticipation down her body. His kiss became increasingly more hungry and urgent.

His lips left her mouth, feathering kisses along her jaw and down to her throat. She instinctively threw her head back and arched her back towards him, her breasts pushing harder against his chest. He moaned and his hips bucked against her, his hardened erection pressing against her core.

"Jake," she breathed, trembling at the hot, wet slide of his mouth along the exquisitely sensitive chord at the side of her neck.

He looked up at her, an almost feral gleam in his smoldering eyes. "Please tell me you want this." His voice was low and husky, turning her on even more.

"I do. I want you," she assured him. Instantly his lips claimed her mouth again in a searing, passionate kiss. He'd never kissed her like that before, but she hoped it wouldn't be the last time.

She gasped into the kiss when his hands parted the edges of the bathrobe she was wearing and slid underneath, pushing it off her shoulders so it crumpled to the floor. She shivered with pleasure as his hands roamed over her naked body, stroking over her breasts, teasing her nipples, caressing the flat, toned expanse of her stomach, molding her waist and sliding down over her butt to pull her tight against him.

Her hands brushed over the breadth of his shoulders, slipping down the front of his chest until she found the edge of his t-shirt. Then they moved beneath it, flattening against his lean middle, loving the firmness of his muscles, the satin-over-steel quality of his skin. She could feel him breathing hard, his chest heaving like he'd been running for miles, his heart pounding as she slid her hands up over his rib cage. Her own heart was pounding, too, and her breathing was erratic as she stroked over his chest, flattening her palms over the wide, firm curves of his pecs, her thumbs brushing over his nipples.

He inhaled sharply. "You're killing me," he said with a shaky voice. For a moment he simply breathed and looked at her, his eyes heavy-lidded. Then, with a quick, sweeping movement he pulled his shirt over his head.

Her heart jumped erratically and her loins clenched. She'd been waiting for this too long. Leaning into him, she pressed her open mouth to the salt-tinged column of his neck and slid her hand over his hard abs, her hand traveling slowly downward. Encountering the waistband of his sweats, she slipped her hand underneath it.

He was there, right there, burning hot and so huge and hard that he was all but bursting out of his sweats. She touched him, wrapped her hand around him.

"Damn," he hissed through clenched teeth. Looking up at him, she saw that his face was hard and fierce, his eyes blazing down at her. Wanting him so much that it made her dizzy, she withdrew her hand and grabbed his waistband, yanking it down. His hands tightened on the round curves of her butt and he lifted her up off her feet, carrying her over to the bed and putting her down. Kissing her again, he spread her legs and moved between them. She was so ready for this and she could see that he was, too. Her heart pounded, her body burned and clenched and she trembled with anticipation, needing him with every fiber of her body. She reached for him, but he caught her hands before she could make contact and guided them to his shoulders.

"Jake."

"Sit tight." Her hands clung to his shoulders for dear life as that huge, hot part of him just brushed her while he slid slow, thrilling hands up the insides of her thighs. She gritted her teeth and curled her toes, nearly forgetting how to breathe.

"Please, Jake," she begged.

"Soon," he promised, his voice guttural now, beads of perspiration forming on his brow from the effort to control himself and not just take her right away. He bent his head and put his mouth on her breast and slid one hand down between her legs. All she could do was moan and cry out his name in pure bliss as his mouth tightened and pulled on her breast and his hand started working its magic.

He kissed her breasts and delved into her, finding that part of her that ached and yearned and burned for his touch. He slid down, kissing a hot trail down her stomach and abdomen until he kissed her where his fingers had been a moment ago, keeping at it until she was mindless, arching her back, reaching for him, begging and pleading. When she was almost there, shivering, thrashing and moaning, he moved back up, gripped her hips and pushed into her, filling her to capacity. She gasped at the perfect sensation of him inside her. Jacob remained motionless for a moment, letting her adjust. Then he took her, hard and fast, plunging into her with a series of fierce, deep thrusts until she lost all sense of time and space, crying out in ecstasy, coming with a shattering intensity that caused the world to explode against her closed eyelids in a burst of thousands of glittering stars as she finally got the release she'd been craving for, the release she'd desperately needed.

Alex shot up in bed, looking around, her heart still beating madly, her breath erratic and her body on edge. She was alone in her dark room, the display of the alarm clock read four-thirty in the morning. _What the hell?_

She'd never dreamt so vividly before. And of Jacob, of all people. And she sincerely wished she were still dreaming.

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God," she murmured desperately, covering her face with her hands as the truth about her confusing emotions finally sank in with the weight of a million tons of bricks. Chenille was right. _I'm in love with Jake_…

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry it was just a dream. At first I wanted it to be reality, but I realized that at the current pace of development of their relationship that would have gone waaayyy too fast. But at least Alex knows about her feelings now. Now all that's missing is Jake... Thanks for all your reviews. So many and I didn't even have to blackmail you guys. Thanks so much. Keep it up and there may be another chapter before the weekend is up.<strong>

**In the next chapter Alex has to face her mother again and you'll see the true Miranda, the one Alex had to put up with for all those years. And Jacob's gonna get a taste of that, too. The next two chapters are going to be pretty emotional for Alex, so hang in there, yeah?**


	10. Miranda

**Chapter 10: Miranda**

Despite her revelation the previous night, Alex behaved no different towards Jacob the next day. She decided not to tell him what she felt for him. He was not in a place to return those feelings yet and the last thing she wanted was to make him feel guilty for it or to make him feel pressured into something he wasn't ready for. Not that that meant they'd have a chance once he was ready. Maybe he wouldn't feel the same way about her. Or she'd fall out of love again. Wouldn't be the first time. Then again, she wasn't sure if she should ever tell him, even if they could have a chance. If they started a relationship and ended up going their separate ways Alex was worried she'd not only lose a lover, but her best friend as well. Jacob was too important a part in her life for her to risk losing him.

"You're awfully quiet today," Jacob noticed over dinner. Charlie was already finished and had gone up to his room to watch the sports channel.

"Just thinking about the case," Alex lied. They were going to go talk with Judge Rigsby tonight.

"You think he's going to want to talk to us? Not like we have any badges to flash at him," Jacob said thoughtfully.

"He's not obligated to tell us what happened and he might not believe that someone from the Doyle family is after him for revenge." They'd decided to keep the ghost part for themselves. "If he doesn't talk to us we have to find some other way to get the information. Where there's a will, there's always a way." Any sort of Detective work was, at the end of the day, just a matter of resourcefulness.

"What options are there?"

"I could always try to interrogate Greene or the two of us could confront Reilly Doyle – me asking the questions and you intimidating the crap out of him." He laughed at that.

"Am I that scary?"

"Oh yeah," Alex said, grinning. "You're a big, badass wolf. Nothing scarier than that." Admittedly, if one didn't know what a kindhearted and basically gentle nature Jacob had, he really could look dangerous. Even Alex had thought him to be a killer when they'd first met, though in retrospect she wasn't sure if that had been due to his appearance or simply due to inconvenient circumstances. Perhaps a bit of both. Now that she knew him, she found nothing menacing about his extremely tall and muscled physique. Now it meant safety and protection. She did have respect of the wolf temper that always boiled just underneath the surface, though.

She'd only ever once seen that temper flash into his eyes – darker, hotter than she'd expected. That was one of the things she loved about him; the easy manner that covered up something sharp, something jagged. It had been impressive, but more impressive was the lightning snap from mild to fury, and back to mild again, though the anger had still simmered behind his eyes.

_A man who can rein himself in like that_, she thought, _has a will of iron_. As the one person she tried to be honest with at all times was herself, she didn't bother to pretend it didn't excite her – even then, three months ago.

Looking at him now she couldn't believe how blind she'd been all this time. It was so easy to recognize the symptoms now; the accelerated heartbeat, the slightly erratic breathing, the goose bumps whenever he touched or breathed on her, the feeling of warmth and happiness when he held her, the sensation of longing whenever his fingers traced patterns on her skin.

And it was so incredibly easy to love him. Everything about him. He looked like a bad boy and could behave like one at times when he was with his guys, but at the same time he was loyal, honest and decent. Not to mention funny, smart and absolutely hot – both literally and figuratively.

They went back to their rooms, getting ready to head out for the night. Her facial muscles were already aching from the strain to keep herself from smiling dreamily all day. Once the door was closed behind her and no one could see her anymore, Alex let the smile come. It had hit her bad, she realized. But when? When had her friendship with Jacob turned into something more for her? She honestly didn't know, but thinking back now to the two months she'd spent in Forks with him, she was pretty sure it had started around that time already. Maybe a part of her had already fallen in love with him the night she'd first met Jacob. But that was speculation and was of no relevance to her now.

Humming happily she went through the room, snatching up the huge, black, very worn purse, filling it with the stuff she might need; her flashlight, the pepper spray (though no one would dare attack her when Jacob was close), her wallet and a small, portable first aid kit – just in case.

A sudden knock pulled her out of her daydreaming. For a tiny moment her mind flashed back to the erotic dream she'd had the previous night about Jacob. It had started something like that, though she'd only worn a bathrobe in her dream.

Hurriedly she opened the door… and stepped into another circle. An old one.

"Baby!" Miranda threw open her arms.

Sluggish with shock, Alex was unable to move back before they wrapped around her like chains. Trapped, she was assaulted with impressions. Too much perfume that didn't quite cover the smell of stale smoke. The bony form honed down by years of hard living. Sticky layers of hairspray over curls dyed peroxide blond.

And through it all seeped her own dark dread.

"Why, I'm so glad to catch you!" The voice was a bright bubble that bounced and jerked in the air. "I swear, I _swear_ you just get prettier every day. Sweetie pie, I just have to sit down for a minute and catch my breath. I'm just so excited to see you, I can hardly _stand_ it."

She talked too fast, Alex noted, walked too fast on the spiked backless heels. Those were warning signs that she'd taken a hit of her current drug of choice very recently.

Deliberately, Alex left the door open and remained standing just inside it. "What do you want?"

"To see you, of course," Miranda answered, plopping down on one of the chairs, clapping her hand like a child so the plastic bracelets on her bony wrists banged together. She let out a trill of laughter that scraped over Alex's brain like nails on a blackboard. "What a thing to ask. I just got such a desire to see you, baby. I told myself, '_My Alexandra is always so busy, but we've just got to have a little time together_'. So I got myself on a bus, and here I am. You just have to sit down here, honey, and tell me everything you've been up to."

Disgust and disappointment rolled through Alex. For just a moment she'd once again persuaded herself into believing that her mother was capable of change. Again, Alex had been delusional, reminded that at the end of the day, Miranda really only needed someone to pay for her drugs. Alex was nothing but a financial security. That's all she'd ever been. "I have to go see Jake."

"Oh now, you can take a little while for your own mama. I've missed you, baby girl. And now you're about to leave me for something much better than I can give you." Miranda looked around herself at the hotel room. It wasn't exactly a fancy hotel, but better than anything Miranda could afford for herself.

Alex caught the look, and the cunning in it. It tightened her chest, and stiffened her spine. "You won't get any money. Not from me. Not from Charlie."

"Why do you want to hurt my feelings like that, baby?" Miranda widened her eyes as they filled with tears. "I just want to spend some time with my little girl."

"I'm. Not. Your. Little. Girl." Alex ground out between clenched teeth.

"Don't be mean, honey, after I've come all this way just to see you again. I know I haven't been a good mama to you, darling, but I'm going to make it up."

She jumped up, pressing a hand to her heart. The nail on the pinkie of her right hand was very long, slightly curved.

_Coke nail_, Alex realized without shock or regret, feeling numbed. Now she knew Miranda's current drug of choice.

"I made some mistakes, I know I did, honey." Miranda's voice rang with apology and regret. "You gotta understand, I was just so young when you came along."

"You've used that one up."

Miranda dug into her shiny red purse and pulled out a tattered tissue. "Why you wanna be so hard on your mama, baby girl? Why you wanna hurt my heart?"

"You don't have a heart. And you're not my mother."

"Carried you inside me for nine months, didn't I?" Sorrow became temper as if a switch had been flicked. Miranda's voice rose, shrilled. "Nine months of being sick and fat. Lay there in pain for hours giving birth to you."

"And then you practically left me to fend for myself so you could get yourself high."

"I was nineteen and completely alone."

It was that, the sad fact of it, that had caused Alex to make room, time and time again, in her heart. But now her heart began to calcify from the blows she'd suffered repeatedly. "You haven't been nineteen in quite a long time. I'm not going to waste time arguing about it anymore. I have to go and so do you."

"But, baby." Panicked, Miranda shifted, back to the teary, choked voice. "You've got to give me a chance to make things right. I'm going to get me a job. I can work for a while, let you concentrate on school. You'll just come back home. We'll have such a fun time. Just like girlfriends."

"You've promised that at least a hundred times. You've never kept it."

"I was sick then. I'm clean now, honey, I swear I am. You can't just turn me out." She held up both her hands, palms up, in a gesture of pleading. "I'm flat broke. Tony, he took almost everything I had and took off."

Alex could only assume Tony was the latest in the string of users, losers and abusers Miranda gravitated to. She tried to forget about the fact that Miranda's money was actually _her _hard-earned pay. "You're high right now. Do you think I'm blind or just stupid?"

"I'm not! I just took a little something because I was so nervous about seeing you. I knew you were mad at me." Tears spilled out, tracking bits of mascara down her cheeks. "You just have to give me a chance to make it up to you, Alex honey. I've changed."

"You used that one up, too." Resigned, Alex walked to her purse, counted out fifty dollars. She'd emptied the bit of money she'd had on her account. She still had enough now for a cab. For anything else she'd have to ask Charlie to lend her something. "Here." She stuffed the money into Miranda's hand. "Take this, get on a bus and ride it as far away as this takes you. Don't come back here again. There's nothing for you here anymore."

"You can't be so mean to me, baby. You can't be so cold."

"Yes, I can." Alex said, slinging her purse over her shoulder and walking out into the hall. "It's in the blood. Take the fifty. It's all you're going to get. And get out, or I swear to God, I'll have you thrown out."

Miranda marched passed her. The money had already disappeared into the purse. She stopped, gave Alex one last glittering look. "I've never wanted you."

"Then that makes us even." Alex got onto the elevator as it came. "I never wanted you, either." The doors of the elevator slid shut in her mother's face. Alex slid down on the floor. And cried in absolute silence.

* * *

><p>Jacob knocked on Alex's door. She'd said to meet here but she wasn't in her room. "Damnit, Alex." He hissed.<p>

"You must be Jake." He whirled around as someone spoke to him directly. He'd never actually seen Miranda before, still he immediately knew it was her. "My daughter's out, if you're looking for her. Left ten minutes ago. High-strung temper she's got."

She beamed at him, her eyes roaming over him with cheap appreciation. She sauntered straight to him, trailed a fingertip down his chest. "Good taste, too."

"Then I guess there's no point waiting here." Instinctively he took a step back so her finger no longer touched him. "What can I do for you, Ms. Swan?"

"You can start by calling me Miranda. After all, you're a good friend of my little girl's, aren't you?"

"I suppose." Jacob wasn't sure how he was supposed to act. What terms was Alex on with her mother at the moment? How would she want him to treat her?

"You wouldn't happen to have a place where I can stay while I wait for my baby? And I surely could use something cold to drink. The heat's terrible."

He didn't want her in his room. More than distaste, there was a kind of primitive dread. But whatever else she was, she was still Alex's mother, and his own had drummed manners into him before she'd died.

"Of course, I've got water and Iced Tea."

"Couldn't think of anything more welcome."

She followed him to the elevator, down one floor and to his door. She was pleased when he opened it for her and stepped back for her to enter ahead of him. She let her body brush his, just the faintest suggestion, then walked into the room.

"Thank you very much, sugar," she purred. "For letting me stay here." She slid a hand onto his arm, caressing his bicep.

"Have a seat." He told her. "I'll get you that drink."

And she mistook the kindness in his voice for attraction. Sometimes it was easy for Jacob to forget that people who didn't know him were unaware of his real age. He looked so much older. Then again, he wasn't sure if Miranda was the type to have qualms about sleeping with him, even if she did know he was only seventeen.

"Such nice manners," she said, sliding into one of the chairs, tilting her head back in the breeze from the air conditioner, watching him. "You wouldn't happen to have anything stronger than Iced Tea, would you, honey?"

"Would you rather have a beer?" He was sure she'd rather have a good whiskey, but even if he had one he wouldn't give it to her.

"That'd be fine. You gonna join me?"

"I'd rather stick with the tea," he replied. As he filled his own glass with Iced Tea and opened a bottle of beer for Miranda, he took the time to study her.

He couldn't see Alex in her. There were, he supposed, some physical similarities. But where Alex had that compact, bombshell body, Miranda's had been whittled down with time and abuse to nearly gaunt.

Showing it off in tiny red shorts and a tight tank top only made her appear cheap and pathetic – a worn-out doll painted up for one last night at the carnival. He felt a stir of sympathy for a woman who sought approval and attention by trying to showcase a sexuality she'd already lost.

She'd used a heavy hand with makeup, and the heat hadn't been kind. Her face seemed sallow and false under all the borrowed color. Her hair had frizzed, and graying roots were streaking through it.

She accepted the bottle of beer, and sipped. "God, I hate the heat. What do you do to beat it, honey?"

"Pour cold water over my head. Have you seen Alex before she left?"

Miranda's lips pursed. "Yeah, I have. We had a little argument." She ran her finger down the condensation on the bottle, drank some more. "We just rub each other wrong sometimes. I guess I can't deny I didn't do right by her when she was a little thing. But I'm trying to make it up to her."

She widened her eyes, tears spilling out. "I've changed. I've come to a point in my life where I realize what's important. And that's family. You know what I mean. You've got family."

"Yes, I've got family."

"And now you're all the way here in Detroit, you must miss them, and they miss you. Whatever troubles you might have between you, you'd put them aside and support each other. No matter what, ain't that right?"

"Yes."

She dabbed at her eyes delicately. "I need Alex to see that's all I want. But she doesn't trust me and I can't blame her. I was hoping maybe you could help convince her to give me a chance."

She slid her hand across the table, skimmed it over the back of his. "I'd appreciate it if you did. I feel so alone. Woman in my situation, she needs a friend. A strong man in her corner. If I knew I had you on my side, it would help so much."

"If there have to be sides, I'm on Alex's. Either way, I can't step between family – and if I was stupid enough to try it, she wouldn't listen to me anyway."

"Maybe you two aren't as close as I assumed."

"It's always risky to make assumptions," he returned equably.

She took another swallow of beer. "You're sleeping with her, aren't you?"

"I'm not going to discuss our relationship with you."

"Why not?" Miranda ran the chilly bottle between her breasts, then, laughing, rose. "You shy, honey? Don't you be shy with me. We could be friends, you and me." She skirted the table, leaned in behind him. "Very good friends," she added as her arms twined down and her teeth nipped at his ear.

It was all Jacob could do to not jump out of his skin as a shiver of disgust rolled down his back. "Ms. Swan, you're putting me in the awkward position of asking you to get your hands off me."

"You _are_ shy." With a chuckle that blew warm breath and beer over his cheek, she trailed her hands down toward his lap.

He clamped a hand over her wrists, jerking them up again. "You're embarrassing yourself." He twisted so he could lever out of the chair and onto his feet to face her. "That's your business. But you're using me to take a shot at Alex, and that's mine."

Angry color spotted her cheeks. "Maybe you think you're too good for me."

"There's no maybe about it. Get out and we'll forget this happened."

He could see the fury in her eyes, but then it was suddenly gone. She sank into a chair, dropped her head on her folded arms and sobbed.

"I don't know what to do. I'm just so alone. I'm so scared. I need help. I thought… I thought if I let you have me, you'd help me. I just don't know what to _do_!"

She lifted her head, and the tears tracked through her makeup. "I'm in such awful trouble."

Jacob went over to the bathroom, ran the cold water, then got a glass. "What kind of trouble?"

"I owe some money. That's why I'm here, but I'm afraid they'll find me. Hurt me. Maybe Alex, too. I don't want them to hurt my baby." His chest fluttered with a burst of panic at her words.

Setting the water down in front of her, he asked, "How much money?"

He saw it, the quick glint of satisfaction in her eyes before she lowered them. "Two thousand dollars. It wasn't my fault. Really, it wasn't my fault. I trusted the wrong people. A man," she said wearily. "And he ran off with the money and left me owing. If I don't find a way to pay it back, they're going to track me down and do something to me. Something to Alex."

Jacob sat back down, looking at her intently. "You're a liar. You want to try to soak me for some quick cash so you can score some drugs. You figure me for an easy mark, but you figure wrong. If it wasn't for Alex, I'd give you a couple hundred to send you along. But you see, Miranda, there is Alex. She wouldn't like it."

She hurled the water in his face. He barely blinked. "Fuck you."

"I thought we already established that wasn't an option."

"You think you're so smart, don't you? So important because your daddy's on some council." She pushed to her feet. "I found out all about you, Jacob Black. Let me ask you just what your daddy's going to think when he hears you're heating the sheets with that little street whore?"

His gut clenched and for a moment he couldn't even breathe. His father had nothing against Alex, even if Jacob did sleep with her, but he couldn't begin to imagine what sort of mother would call her daughter a whore.

"Get out." His hands shook as he gripped the edge of the table.

Miranda obviously misinterpreted his shock, because she looked triumphant, like she'd hit a raw nerve. "All your conservative, small-town friends and neighbors, how are they going to like the idea of their golden boy hooking up with some bastard child from the ghetto? No money. No pedigree. No job. They're gonna cut you right out of their lives. Especially when I tell them you slept with her mama, too." He knew where she got the idea from. It's what had happened to her, but he couldn't believe she was trying to use it against him.

His legs were weak as water, but he stood on them. "Get out before I hurt you."

"Your type doesn't hurt women. Don't think I don't know the difference. You wanna keep plugging your wick into my girl, and you wanna keep it a secret, you'll write me a check, honey. And you'll write it quick. And we're gonna make it four thousand now, because you hurt my feelings."

"Your feelings aren't worth a buck and a half to me, Miranda." Not that he'd have that amount of money anyway.

"They will be, after I have a little chat with your daddy."

"My father will chew you up and spit you out." He walked to his suitcase, yanked out a pad and scrawled a number on it. "Here, that's his number. Call him. You can use my phone, as long as I can listen in. It'll be a real pleasure to hear him slice you to bloodless pieces."

"I need money!"

"You won't get it here." Out of patience, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the door. "I can make a lot more trouble for you than you can for me. Believe it," he said, and shut the door in her face.

He had to sit down until he had his legs under him again. He felt ill, physically ill. He couldn't quite believe what had happened just now. First she'd tried to play him into helping her convince Alex to stay, then she'd tried to weasel money out of him and lastly even attempted blackmail. Not to mention the things she'd said about Alex.

Alex.

Damn, he had to find her. If she'd had a confrontation like that with her mother, then she was surely devastated now. Good thing he had a pretty good idea of where he'd find her…

* * *

><p><strong>I want to take the opportunity to explain something that is very important to me. Considering Miranda's behavior particularly in this chapter, it is easy to paint her as a villain and forget that even she has her reasons for being the way she is.<strong>

**Miranda's background story (explained in chapter 7) doesn't come from just anywhere. It is based on the life story of my first cousin once removed. Her parents adored her brother. He could do no wrong even though he's a total jackass - begging your pardon, is getting divorced (for the second time), is jumping into bed with the next best bimbo and doesn't give a damn about taking care of his sick parents though he lives barely half an hour away from them. My cousin takes the two hour trip to her parent's home almost every second day to clean the house, take care of the garden, get groceries and whatever other chores need to be done. Her parents spent her entire life neglecting her and making her feel worthless, while putting her brother on a pedestal. Today she has to deal with inferiority complexes and depression. It probably would have been a lot worse if she hadn't found refuge with relatives when she was fourteen.**

**Miranda is as much a victim in the story as Alex. She had no one to turn to and was all on her own, even when she was highly pregnant and was looking for help. There is nothing worse growing up than being unable to rely on the two people you should be able to trust the most. I do not want to minimize the bad choices Miranda has made in her life and continues to make, but I just want to remind you that there's always more to a story than the blatantly obvious and stories like Miranda's usually already have an unhappy beginning. Criticism is always so easy to come by. Understanding is so much harder and so much more important.**


	11. Conspiracy

**Chapter 11: Conspiracy**

The cab drove all the way up to the Rigsby estate. It was just a little way out of Detroit, in one of the nicer suburbs with large yards, white picket-fences and the houses wide enough apart so the neighbors didn't practically sit with you at the breakfast table.

The first thing Alex noticed was a black BMW parked out front, its front door standing wide open. The ignition was still turned, the motor running and the left turn signal still blinking.

She got out and walked towards the black car, the cab roaring away behind her. "Justice Rigsby?" she called out, seeing if he was anywhere in the yard. There was no answer so she ran up to the front door. It was unlocked.

"Hello?" she called out again, walking through the kitchen and living room. But there was no one there. There was a staircase leading to the next floor and she hurried upstairs, taking two steps at a time. "Justice Rigsby? Are you there?" What if she was too late and the ghost had already gotten Rigsby?

Just as she reached the upper floor she could hear a cell phone ringing. Quietly following the muffled sound she ended up standing in front of a wall with a row of bookcases. The phone was definitely behind those cases.

_A panic room_, she realized. She supposed with his profession the judge had made enough enemies in his life to warrant such an acquisition. But a panic room wasn't going to stop a ghost.

Rapping her knuckles against the backsides of the bookcases she quickly found the one that sounded lighter than the others, indicating a hollow space behind it.

Trailing her fingers along the seam of the case she found a ridge that could be pulled away. With a low crunching sound the bookcase swung forward, revealing a small, dark room behind it, one that was clearly also used for storage as it was staked with old folding chairs and larger furniture she couldn't identify because it was wrapped in tarp.

She looked around the room and discovered an elderly man sitting against the wall, shaking from head to foot, staring wide-eyed at the ringing cell phone on the floor in front of him.

The ringing stopped, but Alex was sure she knew who it had been. Douglas had received a phone message, too, before he'd been killed. She was just in time.

"Justice Rigsby?" she said quietly, trying not to startle the man. He looked up at her, his eyes still full of fear.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"My name is Alexandra Swan," she answered. "I'm here to help you."

He looked skeptical, taking in her youth and the fact that she was obviously not with the cops or any federal bureau.

"They send kids now?"

"No one sent me, sir," Alex corrected him. "But I know who's after you and I can help you." At least she hoped she could.

He was still unconvinced, but apparently the thought of sitting there alone in the dark was a lot more frightening than putting his life in the hands of a teenager.

Slowly she managed to coax him out of the panic room and down into the living room. For atmospheric purposes she turned on the electric fireplace and went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea for the judge.

When she returned he was sitting on the couch, tensed and ready to run. She handed him the cup of tea and sat down on the other end of the couch, turning so she could keep an eye on him.

"When I got here, you just received a call. Do you know from whom?" she asked, trying to figure out if the judge was aware of his situation.

"Aidan Doyle. He'd called me today already. In my office. I went home as quickly as I could," he said taking a sip from the cup, spilling some of the hot tea on his lap, because his fingers were trembling so much. He didn't seem to notice. "He told me he'd killed Douglas and Atterton and that I'd be next. I tried to call 911 but all I heard was his voice."

"Judge, what's going on here? What is this all about?" Alex asked, eager to get a few answers.

"I have no idea. He's a psychopath," he said, sounding a little too defensive.

"See, in my experience, guys who go to jail blame either the Prosecutor or their Defense Attorney, but not both. And not the judge."

"What exactly are you implying, Miss Swan?"

"I'm not implying anything. I'm not the one who was hiding in a panic room," she reminded him. He leaned back slightly, looking uncomfortable in his own skin. "What does Aidan Doyle have against you?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Aidan Doyle is a killing machine."

"So you all put your heads together and decided to railroad him?" It was wild guess work, but it started to make sense. He shot her a look that confirmed it, though he was still clearly in denial. "Okay, sorry to have bothered you. I'll be on my way, then. But be sure to say hi to Doyle for me when you see him." She made to get up.

"No!" the judge shouted and Alex stood, waiting. "It didn't start out as a setup. Everyone knew he was guilty – of all the killings not just the one where he was caught red-handed." Alex sat back down, watching the judge closely. "Everything we needed to convict him was in that car and then a rooky detective blew the whole thing by opening a door. The evidence fell out and the cop covered it with a jacket. The evidence was corrupted." She knew he meant the severed head Doyle had been caught with in his car.

"So you, Atterton and Douglas buried that information in the name of justice." She couldn't really say that she was mad. She had a full understanding for it. Sometimes justice and law weren't the same thing.

"Douglas never knew," Rigsby corrected her. He turned to face her. "And now, Miss Swan, it's your turn."

"Well, I'm indirectly working for Douglas's widow. I figured out the connection between you, Douglas, Atterton and Doyle and figured Doyle would want you dead as well. So I came here to try and stop that from happening," she said calmly.

"And now the full story?" She had to smile at his perceptiveness.

_Might as well tell him_, she thought. "Aidan Doyle isn't… quite alive." His brows pulled down in a confused frown. "It'll take me some time to explain. Just trust me and do as I say and I'll try to get you out of here in one piece. Okay?" He nodded. "Pack a bag. I'm getting you out of here," she instructed, pulling out her cell phone and dialing Jacob's number.

"Yeah?" Jacob said, picking up on the second ring.

"Hey, I'm at the judge's house. You think you can come over?"

"I'm actually already on my way. See you in a bit." He hung up. Alex stared at the phone, surprised that he hadn't asked about why she hadn't waited for him like they'd agreed on earlier. He didn't even seem mad. Something was not right.

Jacob arrived at the house no ten minutes after Alex had called him, the judge coming down with his suitcase just as Jacob rang the doorbell. She opened the door for him, indescribably glad to see him.

"Okay, Jake, take the judge to a hotel. Make sure you're not followed. Pay cash. Don't contact anyone," she instructed, grabbing the suitcase from the judge and handing it over to Jacob.

"Okay," Jacob replied with no argument.

"How do I know I can trust him?" Rigsby said, looking at Jacob wearily.

"Because I trust him with my life," Alex answered.

"You do?" Jacob asked, looking at her with an emotion in his eyes that Alex couldn't quite identify. "Thank you."

She smiled at him, her heart skipping a beat when he returned that smile.

"How do I know I can trust you?" The judge continued.

"Would you like to stay here and wait for Doyle?" she asked dryly.

"Let's go," the judge said to Jacob.

Just as Jacob was about to take a step toward the door the light overhead flickered off and on again. All three of them looked up at it.

And then Doyle was there, his semi-transparent body walking through the closed door effortlessly. Jacob lunged at him, but fell right through, hitting the ground. A shudder ran through him and he didn't get up again right away.

Rigsby was already sprinting back up the stairs, no doubt trying to hide in the panic room.

In a move that was purely instinctive Alex stepped into the ghost's path, because that would have stopped anyone for at least a second if they lived in a normal world. Doyle stepped right through her. Alex felt the hair on the back of her neck rising and a cold dread wrap tightly around her mind, bringing her to her knees. While her connection to the ghost endured, she thought she could sense a multitude of spirits within Doyle; all shrieking in unison, all lamenting their deaths. The shrieks, she realized were completely soundless, only echoing through her head as memories of long gone times.

Doyle was already halfway up the staircase before either Jacob or Alex had the strength to move again.

"Alex, are you okay?" Jacob asked. He was back on his feet and held out a hand to help her up.

"Yeah," she replied faintly, still shaken up from what had just happened.

A scream came from above. "Let's go," Jacob said, running up the stairs with Alex right behind him, never letting go of her hand. She was thankful for that, because her knees still felt a little weak.

Quickly she threw open the door to the panic room, but they were already too late. Doyle was gone and the judge lay motionless on the ground.

"Damnit," Alex hissed, dropping to her knees by Rigsby's side, feeling for a pulse. When she didn't find one she began pushing down on his chest in rapid succession, trying to restart his heart.

"Alex, don't–" Jacob tried to pull her away, but she pushed his hand away.

"Don't!" she warned. Rigsby had trusted her to get him out of here alive and she'd promised to do just that. She had to help him. This was her fault.

"Alex, he's dead, I can sense it," Jacob said softly. The tears came in a flood as she sat back, burying her face in her hands.

It only lasted a second before she fought to regain her composure. Now was not the time to have a breakdown. Taking deep breaths she managed to keep the next flood of tears from coming.

"Okay, Jake, please meet me back at the hotel. I have to call 911 now." It would be easier to make up an excuse why she was here. The two of them together would be harder.

He nodded and left while she dialed.

Alex stood in the hallway of Rigsby's house, watching as the coroner wheeled the black body bag out of the house on a stretcher.

Greene approached her, looking anything but happy. "Douglas. Atterton. And now Rigsby. I know these men were connected and I want to know how."

"They were all on the Doyle case fifteen years ago, right? I read it in the papers," she said, faking ignorance. "Maybe it was a member of the Doyle family, trying to avenge Aidan."

"What were you doing here, Alex?" he asked with a sigh.

"I used to hang at the park just down the street when I was a kid," she lied. She'd seen the park for the first time while driving by in the cab barely two hours ago. "I was strolling through the neighborhood, reminiscing before I leave, when I heard someone scream."

"And you, of course, ran to help rather than call police," Greene said, scowling.

"Well, if someone was being killed waiting for the police to come would have surely meant death. Unfortunately even I came too late," Alex said. She was glad she'd always been such a good liar. "The front door was open and so was the door to his panic room. I guess he tried to hide in it, but didn't have time to close the door."

"I suppose so," Greene said calmly.

"What happened here?"

Alex visibly flinched when she heard Charlie's voice from outside. Of course Greene would have had him notified.

"Let me through. That's my niece in there," she heard him yelling at someone.

"Let him through," Greene ordered.

A second later Charlie stood in the doorway, looking from Greene to Alex and back again, looking worried and angry at the same time.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"I'll explain it to you later, okay?" Alex said.

"I want to know now!" he demanded.

"That's alright," Greene said. "I've got everything. You can take your niece back to the hotel."

"Thank you," Charlie said, a little calmer, wrapping a firm arm around Alex's shoulders as he ushered her out of the house and to the waiting cab.

"So?" he asked, once the cab was driving off.

"Not here, okay? I'll tell you back at the hotel," she promised.

Jacob met up with them in front of Alex's room, where he'd been pacing for a while. He looked up, relief visible on his face.

"Okay, what's going on?" Charlie wanted to know the moment Jacob had closed the door behind them.

"Fifteen years ago a man named Aidan Doyle was arrested after he'd been caught driving with the severed head of a man on the passenger seat. The judge told me that a rooky detective opened the door and the head fell out. The cop covered it with his jacket so the evidence could no longer hold up in court. Prosecutor Atterton and Judge Rigsby decided to railroad Doyle and his Attorney, Douglas, was painted with the conspiracy brush."

"I thought the judge was dead before you got there," Charlie said.

"No, I went there trying to save his life," Alex corrected him. "Unfortunately it didn't quite work."

"So you knew about the murders and you were investigating again?" Charlie looked at Jacob incredulously.

"Hey, don't look at me, I had nothing to do with it," Jacob defended himself.

"Douglas's widow asked Greene to look into the case. I overheard Greene talking to his wife, that's how it started," Alex explained.

"And why couldn't you let the police handle this?"

"Because the killer is the ghost of Aidan Doyle," Alex said straight out. Charlie's mouth was hanging open after that. "He's seeking revenge on the people who've put him in prison. And I think I know who his next target will be."

"The rooky detective," Jacob agreed with a nod.

"Charlie, do you think you could find out the name?" Alex asked.

Snapping out of his shock, Charlie looked at her with a defeated expression. Sighing, he said, "Sure, I can try."

Alex filled her uncle in on the rest of the case. When she'd finished he'd declared that he would go to bed, needing to sleep over this, leaving Alex and Jacob alone.

With a sigh, she dropped onto her bed, leaning forward and resting her head on her folded hands, elbows propped up on her knees. "So what's wrong, Jake? You didn't even comment on me leaving without you."

He snorted, anger flashing in his eyes. "Miranda paid me a visit." She was sure the color had drained from her face. "I debated whether to tell you or not, and decided that I'm not going to keep secrets from you, or tell lies. Not even to spare your feelings. I ran into her in front of your room. She invited herself to mine for a cold one. Then she tried to seduce me."

"I'm so sorry, Jake." Her lips felt stiff and ice cold as she formed the words. Her throat burned like fire. "It won't happen again; I'll make sure of that."

"Shut up. Do I look like I need your protection? And save your outrage until I'm done," he snapped at her. Then he closed his eyes, taking a few calming breaths. There it was again. That rage he controlled so well. Heat coiled in Alex stomach, despite her own fury of what Miranda had done. He continued in a calmer voice. "When she reached for my zipper, I told her not to embarrass herself. Her next trick was to fling herself down on the table and cry."

He sat down on one of the chairs, small shudders still running up his arms. "She didn't manage to work up many tears along with the noise, but I give her marks for effort. The story was how bad, mean people were after her. They'd hurt her. And you, if she didn't give them two thousand dollars. Where could she turn, what could she do?"

Color flushed back into Alex's face, rode high on her cheekbones. "You gave her money? How could you believe–"

"I'm not a moron, Alex." He gave an exaggerated sigh, brushing a hand through his hair. "You're really pumping up the ego here, honey. I didn't give her a dime, and let her know, clearly, I wasn't going to be played. That irritated her into threatening to go to my family. Seems she – or her lawyer more likely – asked around about me and got the general picture. She figured they'd be shocked and shamed by the idea of me sleeping with you. For good measure, she'd tell them I'd fucked her, too."

"She could do it." It was more than the cold now. The sickness roiled in Alex's stomach. "Jake, she's perfectly capable of–"

"Didn't I tell you to wait until I was finished?" His voice didn't whip, didn't sting. It was simply implacable. "The cost doubled to four thousand for this spot of blackmail. I don't think she was pleased with my response. I kicked her out. That's about it, so you can be outraged now if you want. Don't cry." He spoke roughly when her eyes filled. "She's not worth one tear from you."

"I'm mortified. Can't you understand?"

"Yes. Though we're both smart enough to know this had nothing to do with you, I understand. And I'm sorry for it, sorry to add to it."

"It's not your fault. It's not you." She wiped a tear from her lashes before it could fall.

"It's not you, either, Alex." His voice was soft now, the anger having been vented. He got up, walked over and crouched in front of Alex. "It's never been you. I looked at her. I looked close and hard, and there's nothing there that's part of you. Family's the luck of the draw, Alex. What you make of yourself, because of or despite it, that's where the spine and heart come in." He brushed a few stray tears away with his thumb.

"I'll never be rid of her, not all the way. No matter what I do."

"No, you won't."

"I'm sorry. No, damn it, I will say it," she snapped when his face tightened. "I'm sorry she came into your room. I'm sorry she tried to feel you up and took a go at your family. I need to ask you not to say anything about this to Charlie."

"Why would I?"

She put her hand over the one he still had on her cheek, savoring the feeling of his warmth.

"I was only two weeks old when she left me for the first time. Left me with neighbors and was gone for almost a week. I don't know where she was and I don't even want to know." She decided to be honest with him. He'd been honest with her, after all.

"What about your father? Has she never told you about him? I mean, you've already told me you didn't know who he was, but she must have said something."

She shrugged. "That always depended on her mood. Once she told me it was a boy she loved and who loved her, but his parents tore them apart and sent him far away. Another time, she told me she was raped on the way home. Still another it was a rich, older man who was going to come back for both of us one day and set us up in a fine house."

She lifted her head to look into Jacob's deep, brown eyes. "I was about fourteen when I figured she told me the truth. She was high enough, careless and mean enough for it to be the truth. How the hell should she know, she said. There were plenty of them. What the hell did she care who planted me in her? One was the same as the other.

"She was whoring around when she got pregnant with me. I heard talk when I was old enough to understand what the talk meant. When she got pregnant she ran back to my grandparents. She was afraid of an abortion – afraid she'd die of it, then go to hell or some such thing. So she had me, and she left me to fend for myself. Those are the only two things in the world I owe her."

She wiped a few more tears away. "Anyway, she came back a week later, made what would become her usual promises that she'd learned her lesson, she was sorry, she'd changed. She stayed around a few days, then took off again. That's a pattern she'd repeated since. At least until she considered me old enough and she decided to, instead of finding trouble, she'd invite it into our home. But sometimes she'd still leave, then come back beat up from whatever bastard she'd taken up with most recently. Or she'd come back sick, or just high. But Miranda, she always comes back."

Alex fell quiet, brooding over that single, unavoidable fact.

"She hurt you. Over and over again," Jacob said quietly, still kneeling by her feet, his hands on her knees.

"She hurts everyone. That's her greatest talent. I stopped celebrating my birthdays with my friends when I was ten, because she'd always ruin it by showing up drunk or high, with some lowlife."

She squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to keep the tears away. "I had a boy I was seeing. He was the first one after Lewis betrayed me with my best friend. I was crazy about him, thought I'd found _the one_. Everyday I'd wake up, excited that I would see him again. I wasn't quite sixteen yet. She got him liquor and drugs and had sex with him. He was hardly older than I was, so it's hard to blame him for being an idiot. She thought it was funny when I stumbled over them in the living room. She laughed and laughed. That was the first time I left. I got drunk, I stole a car. And Greene picked me up. I don't know how or why he did it, but he managed to get them to drop charges and he took me under his wing, brought me back on the right track. From then I've been done with her. I'm done with her. And I'll never be done with her, Jake. Nothing I can do changes her being my mother."

"And nothing she does can change who you are. You're a testament to your own grit, Alex, and a credit to the people who helped you find your own way. She hates you for what you are."

Alex stared at him. "She hates me," she whispered. "I've never been able to say that to anyone before. Why should saying such a thing, such an awful thing, help so much?"

"I won't say she can't hurt you any more, because she can. But maybe now she won't be able to hurt you as much, or for so long."

Thoughtfully, she stroked through his thick, glossy black hair. "I keep underestimating you."

"That's okay. That way I can keep surprising you," he said, smiling at her that radiant smile that always made her feel better. God, she really did love him.

"Her calling you a whore really did it," he admitted, sitting down beside her. "I was closer to accidentally phasing than I've ever been in the last year."

She was touched that he took that so personal. "Thank you for sticking up for me," she said, putting her arms around him and placing a light kiss on his shoulder. She wished she could throw herself at him and kiss him as feverishly as she had in her dream, but she wouldn't be doing him a favor.

"What else did you think I would do?" he said, chuckling softly, his arm encircling her waist. He didn't wait for an answer. "What will you do on Wednesday? In the hearing, I mean?"

She'd almost forgotten about that. "Do what I should have done from the beginning; tell the judge I want to move to Forks with Charlie and that I never want to see my mother again. She probably won't come anyway, not now that she's high again." She nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply, his scent calming her nerves.

"Good." He turned his head to place a kiss on the top of hers.

"Jake, will you stay with me tonight?" she asked before she could clamp her mouth down around the words. "Today turned out to be a lot more exciting than I thought it would be," she explained.

"Sure, sure," he said, smiling at her. "We can watch a movie again. I think _Sleepy Hollow_ is running today."

"That sounds great."


	12. Attack

**Chapter 12: Attack**

Jacob lay awake in the dark. Alex had already drifted off to sleep. While her calm breathing and slowed heartbeat were trying to lull Jacob into sleep, his mind was racing too fast with guilt to let him rest.

He hadn't been entirely honest with Alex, despite his decision to be. He'd told her about his run-in with her mother, but he'd left out what had happened after. When he'd returned to the hotel after the judge had been killed, he'd gone to his room first, finding the door standing open.

When he'd gone through his stuff to see if anything was missing, he found the envelope with the money he'd gotten from the packs gone. Two thousand dollars in cash. And he knew who had them now, too.

He'd hurried out of his room so quickly in his rush to find Alex that he hadn't checked if the door had closed properly. Apparently it hadn't. When he'd come back Miranda's scent was all over his stuff. She'd obviously gone through it and she'd found what she was looking for.

He just didn't know if he should tell Alex. She'd already reacted so badly to the news that her mother had tried to seduce him. Alex would just feel even more guilty if he confessed that Miranda had stolen from him, too. And he didn't want to add anything else.

Alex was incredibly strong. Sometimes he was worried that she was too strong, that she'd forget how to give. But when it came to Miranda there was a gaping wound in her heart, one that just wouldn't heal up because it kept being torn open. Again and again. Jacob could protect her from vampires, demons, ghosts and whatever else was lurking in the dark of night, but he didn't stand a chance against Miranda and it frustrated him. He wanted to keep the pain away, to save her from the hold Miranda would forever have on her. But he was powerless against it. He could save her from the small things, but he wasn't sure if keeping secrets was the right way to go if he wanted her to heal. Maybe things had to get worse, before she could finally overcome them. He had no doubt she would eventually.

* * *

><p>When Alex awoke the next morning she was feeling considerably better. She knew it was Jacob's closeness that helped her.<p>

She looked over at his still sleeping form. He looked younger in sleep. His face was smoother, the worry and the hardness his life as a werewolf had caused gone. Her fingertips caressed softly over his chest, her body filled with longing. She wished she could just tell him the truth. Tell him how much she loved him. But he was still hurting over Bella. They'd just end up unhappy if she let him know. But, if nothing else, Alex was strong-willed. She didn't have to have her way in the small things, but when she decided she wanted something, really wanted it, she found a way to get it. And she wanted Jacob with every fiber of her mind, heart, body and soul.

"Morning," he mumbled, woken by her soft touch. She didn't cease the trailing of her fingertips, tracing the muscles of his stomach.

"Morning," she replied, fighting the urge to want to kiss him.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, rubbing her upper arm.

"Much better. Thank you, Jake, for being here for me."

He smiled at her brightly. "Anytime."

They got up, Jacob going to his room to get ready for the day. They had to move along in the case. Three men were already dead and it was just a matter of time before Doyle would try to go after the cop who'd been forced to lie on the stand.

The problem was that they'd probably hit a dead end. Even if they could find the cop, they didn't know how to protect him. How did you fight off an enemy you couldn't even touch?

When they went down to breakfast Charlie was already finishing his meal. He wished them a good day before he was off. Alex knew he was going to try to find out the name of the rooky detective. She was glad she could count on him.

"So what are we going to do?" Jacob asked, pocking at his scrambled eggs with surprisingly little appetite. She supposed even a wolf stomach would have a hard time dealing with the stuff they served around here.

"Hit the public library," she announced. "They have a section for occult stuff. We have to find out what that ritual was that Doyle performed and how to stop him."

"No offense, Alex, but considering what humans have done to werewolves and vampires, I'm not sure if we get accurate answers."

"If you dig long enough, in the right places, you do get accurate answers," she replied, convinced.

"Fine, we might as well try it," he said. She knew he wasn't looking forward to hitting the books.

It was already getting late when they returned to the hotel. They'd read their way through almost half the occult section of the library and they'd taken some books with them. Unloading the piles of books on Alex's bed, Jacob went to his room and returned with the printed photos Alex had sent to Gillian. Everything was there; the autopsy report and photos and the crime scene pictures.

"I'm never opening another book after this," Jacob murmured, rubbing his tired eyes. She knew how he felt. Her eyes were stinging and her head had started throbbing.

"You will though, when you go to college. You'll spend your days just like this."

"If you want me to go to college, this is not the way to convince me."

"Okay, let me try again, then," she said with a smirk. "You'll be partying hard every night with the frat boys and hook up with one hot girl after the other."

"Better," he said, grinning back at her.

Alex cell phone rang just then. Pulling it out of her pocket she saw that it was Gillian. _Oh please have good news – or any news_, she thought as she picked up, putting the call on speaker. "Hey Gill."

"Alex, thank God I finally get through. I've been trying to call Jake for ages." Quickly, Jacob pulled his own phone out of his pocket, looking at it.

_Empty battery, sorry_, he mouthed to Alex.

"Okay, what's up, Gill? What's so urgent?"

"I think I might know what the ritual was for." Jacob perked up, immediately discarding the book he'd had flipped open on his lap. "Do you notice anything familiar about this case and the last?"

"Yeah, the pentagram," Alex said.

"It's truly a powerful symbol. Binding. The soul and the flesh. The natural and the supernatural."

"So what did Doyle need it for?"

"The ritual blocks the spirit's passage. Traps it," Gillian answered.

"Binds him to what?" Alex asked.

"Something or someone, I don't know," Gillian said apologetically. "But Alex… please be careful. It's not wise to cross a person who can teach this kind of magic to a thug."

"But who's doing it?" Jacob asked, thoughtful.

"Revenge is personal, right? I mean if you just want someone dead, you'd hire a hit man, you know. One shot to the head and it's over, right?" A sudden thought overcame Alex and she got up and walked over to the table, picking up one of the photos, a close-up shot of Doyle's upper body. "But it was a binding spell. And it binds the spirit to someone and the pentagram is a binding symbol." She looked past the pentagram, carved on Doyle's chest, to the word tattooed just underneath it. _Mathir_.

"Gillian, do you know what _Mathir_ means?" Jacob had come over, too, looking at the picture over Alex's shoulder.

"It's Gaelic for _Mother_. Why?"

"That son of a bitch," Alex hissed. "And I mean that literally." She looked up at Jacob, seeing that he'd come to the same conclusion.

There was a knock on the door and Jacob opened it. Charlie stormed in, looking like he was bringing more bad news. "We have a problem," he announced.

"What?" Alex asked, worried to hear the answer.

"One guess who screwed up Doyle's case," he said, looking at Alex meaningfully.

Her stomach dropped with a lurch. "Greene," she breathed.

"So let me get this straight," Gillian said. Alex had almost forgotten she still had her on the phone. "Aidan Doyle kills himself in prison and his mother is making his ghost take revenge on the people who put him there?"

"Douglas loses his case. Rigsby, Atterton and Greene all conspire to conceal the evidence. It makes sense," Alex said. Jacob lifted an eyebrow at her. "For a lunatic," she added, rolling her eyes at him.

"The part that terrifies me is that I'm starting to get to the point where that makes sense to me, too," Charlie said with a sigh.

"Where's Greene now? Do you know?"

"Back at the office, probably," Charlie said.

"You need to keep an eye on him," Alex said. "Doyle is being summoned by the mother so we have to go find her."

"Well, if she is behind this I'm coming with you," Charlie argued.

"No, someone has to stay with Greene. You're the best for the job. You can talk about your jobs or about me, just keep close to him. Please, Charlie."

"Don't worry, Charlie, I've got Alex covered," Jacob said.

"I'll hold you to that," Charlie said, before he nodded resignedly. "I'll go to Greene."

"Thank you," Alex said and she meant it. Greene was the closest thing to a father figure she'd had before she'd met Charlie. She owed him her life and her sanity.

Alex and Jacob grabbed the next cab and rode out to the salon Mrs. Doyle owned. When they arrived the house was dark. Everyone inside seemed to be either sleeping or out.

Grabbing the hairpin out of her pocket, Alex fumbled in the lock until she heard a satisfying click.

"For someone aspiring to become a cop, you'd make an excellent thief," Jacob whispered.

"I'm not here to steal anything," she just replied and opened the door. "Mrs. Doyle?" Alex yelled as she stepped into the salon.

"You're too late," someone said with a shaky voice. Alex looked up and gasped in shock. Reilly Doyle was sitting in the salon chair, tilted back over the sink like he was about to have his hair washed. But what caught her attention were his arms. It looked like they had melted, flabs of skin hanging off the armrests like wax from a candle.

"Oh my God." Alex took a step towards him, not trusting her eyes. She could hear Jacob's sharp intake of breath behind her when he saw it, too.

"It doesn't pay to cross my Ma," Reilly said, sounding like he was in a lot of pain.

"Where is she?" Jacob asked.

"She's gone off to kill that cop. Greene," Reilly answered willingly.

"We need to help him," Alex said to Jacob and they both moved closer, despite having no idea what to do.

"No, don't," Reilly said, a hint of panic in his voice. "She said it would wear off. If she lets it."

"I can't believe she would do this to her own son," Jacob said unbelievingly.

"What she did to Aidan was worse," Reilly replied.

"He performed that binding spell all on his own," Alex said a little coldly. She had no sympathy for Aidan Doyle.

"Aidan wasn't always a killer," Reilly defended his older brother. "She turned him into that. She used her magic. Let him get a taste for it. When prison took him out of her reach she _made_ him kill himself. So she could bring him back."

"That's insane," Jacob breathed, still in shock.

"Sanity is not this family's strong suit." Reilly's attempt at a joke was weakened by the shaking of his voice from the pain he was in. "Go. Go, help your friend."

Alex and Jacob turned to leave, throwing Reilly another glance. Neither of them liked the idea of leaving him like this. "Try not to hurt her, yeah?" he shouted after them. They turned to him again, similar looks of disbelief on their faces. "She's still my Ma," he stuttered. Alex was the first one to understand him. She knew the position he was in. Jacob still shook his head when they left the house.

* * *

><p>Charlie was sitting across from Greene, drinking the tea he'd been offered. Greene had asked if he preferred coffee, but it was late and Charlie hoped he'd still catch some sleep today. He sure wouldn't with caffeine coursing through his bloodstream.<p>

"I pulled the Doyle case," Charlie admitted. Greene nodded as if he'd expected that.

"Alex likes getting herself into trouble. I think she'll do well living with a cop. At least you can handcuff her to the kitchen table when she tries to play Nancy Drew again," Greene said with a grin.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind," Charlie said, smiling, too. "You were just assigned to homicide when Doyle got pulled over." Greene nodded. "You were the rooky cop who spoiled the evidence in the case, weren't you?"

"Nice detective work, Mr. Swan." Greene chuckled though there was no trace of humor in it. "Even after I opened the door and the head fell out we still would have had Doyle."

"So what happened?"

"A playground," Greene answered, frowning. "Kids everywhere. I didn't want them to see the head so I draped my jacket over it." Charlie had luckily never been in such a situation. He wasn't sure how he would have handled it. How he _would_ handle it. Children shouldn't see such things. "Derek was three and Chenille had been born only a few months before that."

"I understand," Charlie said shortly.

Greene sighed. "I'm tired. I'm going home, if you don't mind."

_Damn_, Charlie thought. He could hardly tell Greene that he was being stalked by a ghost. He hoped Alex and Jacob were having more luck.

With a sigh he got up and followed Greene out to the parking lot.

"Greene," he yelled once he came out into the lot. Greene spun around, his gun pointed straight at Charlie's chest.

"Damnit, don't do that," Greene snapped, lowering his gun. At least Greene seemed to know that he was potentially next on the list of murders.

Just then the sirens of the cruisers around them all started blaring at once. Looking around frantically, Charlie only just saw something pale white shoot past before he heard Greene cry out in pain. He turned around, for a short moment too stunned to even move. He'd known there was a ghost, but seeing the transparent figure standing behind Greene with its hands disappearing into Greene's back was something else entirely.

"Doyle," Charlie shouted, his hand going instinctively to where his gun would usually be, but he'd left it at home.

Doyle pulled back, staring at Charlie with blank, dead eyes, Greene dropping to the floor with no sign of life.

"Jake hurry!" he heard Alex yell as she ran towards them, pulling Charlie back from the ghost, standing between them.

* * *

><p>He had to find her. Now.<p>

Skirting the building of the police department, Jacob moved his head from side to side, staring at every shadow.

Then he heard a voice. "Kill her! Kill her!" He saw the squat, elderly woman, standing partially in the shadow of a pine tree on the patch of green behind the office. He knew who Doyle was supposed to kill next.

Moving as fast as he could he stood behind the woman with his hand clamped over her mouth before she even realized she'd been spotted. "You talk too much," he snarled, an inhuman growl escaping his throat. No one got to harm Alex. Absolutely no one. He'd make sure of that. And he could only think of one way.

He released Mrs. Doyle and took a step back. She spun around to face him like he knew she would.

Having had enough practice with the movements, his clothes fell to the ground within seconds. Before she could even get the gasp over his nakedness out, he'd phased.

* * *

><p>Alex stared at the ghost of Doyle as it suddenly halted in its track. It convulsed, once, twice, then seemed to disintegrate in front of their eyes with a silent scream that only echoed through her head, making her shudder. And then he was gone.<p>

Staring at the spot where the ghost had vanished for just another moment, she snapped out of her fear and turned to Charlie.

"Charlie, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he just replied, his eyes still trained on where the ghost had been. He was even paler than usual.

Satisfied that he was shocked, but otherwise unharmed, she kneeled down to feel for Greene's pulse. "Oh, thank God, he's still alive," she breathed, closing her eyes for a moment in relief.

Just then Jacob came running around the corner and she looked up at him. "Where's Mrs. Doyle?" she asked when he came to a stop in front of them.

"She's dead," he answered.

"How did she die?" Charlie asked, looking concerned. Alex knew he was worried about what Jacob might have done.

"Heart attack," Jacob replied. "She saw something that literally scared her to death." She could guess what he meant. At least he hadn't technically committed murder.

The sun was rising when Charlie returned to the hotel. Alex and Jacob were waiting for him in his room, sitting around the table. Charlie fell into the last free chair, sighing.

"So what did you tell them?" Alex asked.

"The truth." Charlie rubbed a hand over his tired eyes. "That Mrs. Doyle attacked Greene in the parking lot. I just didn't tell them that her weapon of choice was the ghost of her dead son."

"Thank you," Alex said with a slight nod. "Both of you."

"Well, if you don't mind, it's been a long night," Charlie said, getting up again and stretching. They took their cue and left Charlie's room, saying their goodnights.

"Are you alright?" Alex asked once they were out in the hallway.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, you gave someone a heart attack, Jake. You killed someone."

He frowned, looking at the floor before he fixed his eyes on hers. "She was making him go after you. I would have done more than give her a heart attack if necessary." Alex's knees nearly buckled at the announcement. Why couldn't he be over her cousin already? "I'm not proud of it," he continued, his frown deepening. "But I can live with it. The alternative would have been worse."

"Thank you," she said again, wrapping her arms around his middle. He returned the hug without hesitation. "For helping me battle more than one ghost these past few days. I couldn't have done it without you."

"I'll protect you from everything I can, Alex. And do my best to help you through the rest." She had to step back, out of reach, or she was sure she would have just grabbed him and kissed him on the spot. "So what will happen now?"

"Well, the hearing is tomorrow – today," she corrected herself, looking out at the lightening sky. "You're flying home on Friday and I guess Charlie and I could get a flight booked on the same day. Maybe even the same plane. And then we'll still have two months before school starts up again."

"And Sam and Emily's wedding in July," Jacob added.

"Yeah, the wedding."

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it took me so long to upload, but I had a lot of learning to do for my exams. It's calming down now, so I should have more time. Leave me some reviews and I will upload the next chapter.<strong>


	13. Torture

**Chapter 13: Torture**

"You were right," Alex admitted. "About me and Jake. Well, about me anyway."

She sat on a park bench next to Chenille. There was a playground nearby and they could hear children laughing and shrieking in delight. Alex inhaled the warm summer air deeply, soaking up the heat of the sun. Today was her last day in Detroit. Tomorrow morning a plane would bring her, Charlie and Jacob back to rainy Forks. And while she was looking forward to that, a new life, a new chance, she knew she was going to miss this; Chenille, Derek, Monica and the Lieutenant, sitting outside without the need of an umbrella.

The hearing had gone smoothly. Shepard had been furious when Miranda hadn't even bothered to show up. She'd probably been too high and she probably didn't want to run into Jacob again. He'd admitted to Alex that Miranda had stolen the money he'd had with him. Two thousand dollars. Alex was still seething with anger and embarrassment every time she thought about that. But he wouldn't hear anything about her paying him back, nor did he want to press charges, because that would only embarrass Charlie.

Since two o'clock on Wednesday the sixth of June, Charlie was officially her legal guardian.

"So you do love him," Chenille said, grinning broadly.

"I do, very much." Ever since that revelation Alex had been barely able to keep a stupid smile off her face. Now it spread over her lips again and she didn't even bother to hide it. "I wish he weren't still pining after the other girl."

"I've told you before; I've watched the _both _of you closely the other evening," Chenille said. "Trust me, Alex, he loves you, too. He just might not be in a place yet where he can admit that to himself – or anyone else for that matter. Just give him a bit more time, he'll come around eventually."

"I'm really going to miss you, Chenille."

"I'm gonna miss you, too, Lex." Chenille had to take a deep, shaky breath to keep from crying.

"Will you tell Derek? About Jake?"

"I don't have to. I'm not the only one with eyes in my head," she said, smiling again. "He knew he didn't stand a chance when he saw the two of you together."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Sweetie, I'm pretty damn sure you and Jake will end up married."

Alex had to laugh at that. "Well, we'll see about that."

"Yeah, we'll see, but I'll want a wedding invitation. And then I will tell you '_I told you so_'."

"Naturally. I wouldn't want you to miss out on that." She smiled, leaning her head back, eyes closed, letting the light breeze wash over her.

"I've never seen you so much at peace," Chenille suddenly said.

"I feel much more at peace," Alex replied truthfully. "It's like a huge burden has been lifted from me, one I didn't even know I've been carrying around with me. I feel light as a feather." Miranda was no longer her responsibility. Should someone else deal with her. She had plenty of lowlife men to fall back onto. She could be their problem from now on.

Not that it made it easier to leave. When there is someone else who'll get hurt, it's not easy to be selfish, to think only of yourself. It's almost easier to do nothing and just let it slide. Add on another layer of numbness. Close your eyes to the bitter reality. But deep inside the troubles didn't pass by unnoticed. They tore you up from the inside, destroying you little by little. Alex knew she had to leave in order to save herself. Miranda was never going to change and she would surely drag her daughter down with her. Miranda had been selfish and now it had to be Alex's turn. No matter how much it hurt.

"I'm glad. I was worried about you," Chenille said quietly. "Particularly in the last few months, even before you went to Forks, you just seemed so… tired. Every time I saw you Miranda seemed to become your future more and more and it scared me. I was seeing you go down the same road and I'm just glad that's not going to happen now."

"It still could."

"No," Chenille chuckled. "Charlie and Jake wouldn't let you go that way. They'd beat some sense into you if necessary."

"You wouldn't have let me go that way, either," Alex pointed out.

"I wouldn't have wanted you to," Chenille said with a nod. "But I'm not sure if I would have had the strength necessary to keep you on the right track."

"You're your father's daughter, Chenille. He was the one who saved me in the first place. I'm who I am because of him. You're just as strong as he is." She checked her cell phone clock quickly, noticing that it was already close to one in the afternoon. She had to get back to the hotel. Charlie was taking her and Jacob out for lunch. "I'm afraid I have to go."

"Okay." The smile dropped off Chenille's face. Before she knew what happened, Alex found herself in a rib-cracking hug. "I'm really going to miss you, Alex."

"I'll miss you, too." She couldn't keep a few tears from escaping.

"Promise you'll stay in touch."

"Always."

Alex had always hated saying goodbye. Particularly to those who'd been such a huge part of her life. And almost nobody had had such an impact on her life like the Greenes had. She wished she'd had more time to say goodbye properly to all of them, but time was not something she had. With lunch and packing it would already be late and she wanted to get a good night's sleep before the hectic day tomorrow.

They'd managed to book two seats on the same flight Jacob was on, just a few rows behind him. Once the plane was in the air, Charlie had excused himself, had gone over to Jacob and traded seats with him.

"What was that about?" Alex asked once Jacob sat next to her. It was almost too pitiful to watch this huge boy trying to squeeze into the tiny sitting spaces. He looked very uncomfortable, too.

"No idea," Jacob replied. "Said he wanted to take a nap anyway so I should just keep you company."

Was Charlie picking up on it, too? Where her feelings for Jacob really that obvious?

She rested on Jacob's shoulder the whole flight, watching as his large fingers played with hers, mesmerized by the play of colors of their skins together.

"So what is the first thing you'll do once you're in Forks?"

"I definitely need a car," Alex answered. "And a job. And then I want to paint the room. I hate that blue color. And maybe I could get some new furniture, too."

"Sounds like a plan," Jacob said, covering a yawn with his hand.

"What about you?"

"Me? I think I'm going to go with the Calculus crash course. I'll have enough on my hands with that as it is. Six weeks of intensive studying." Jacob frowned a bit at the thought. "And I'll have to catch up on some work in my other subjects before school starts again."

"So you're really gonna do it? Go to college?"

"I'll have to talk to Rachel about my dad, but… yeah, if they take me, I'm gonna go to the University of Washington. And I want you to come with me."

"Do you?" she said, smirking at him.

"Yeah, course I do. I have to keep an eye on you, don't I? Before you end up being eaten by a troll or something."

Alex snorted at that. "I don't think there are really any trolls."

"I'm starting to come to the conclusion that absolutely nothing is impossible."

"Yeah, but trolls? People would notice them. Maybe there used to be some, the stories have to come from somewhere, but they might be extinct."

"Or they're better at hiding than we think."

They argued about that a little while longer before the plane began sinking.

"Oh, thank God, it's finally over," Jacob sighed, shifting in his chair and wincing at his stiff muscles.

"Oh, Jake. I suggest you never get on a plane again unless you can afford at least business class," she said, chuckling and at the same time feeling awfully sorry for him.

"By the time I could ever afford business class they'll have made the rows smaller again and business class won't be better than economy is now."

"That's probably true," Alex said with a nod. "Guess you have to stay grounded then."

"I think I might be able to live with that." He pulled her close with his arm wrapped around her shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. "But I'd always do it again for you."

Alex had nothing she could say to that. At least nothing she should say. She had to bite down on her lip to keep from shouting out her feelings for him. It came close to torture. He nuzzled her hair, his breath sending a delightful shiver down her back. _Okay, this is torture_, she thought. But she'd endure it for the slight chance that at the end of it he'd feel the same for her…

_The End_

Can't you see?

There's a feeling that's come over me

Close my eyes

You're the only one that leaves me completely breathless

No need to wonder why

Sometimes a gift like this you can't deny

'Cause I wanted to fly,

So you gave me your wings

And time held its breath so I could see, yeah

And you set me free

There's a will

There's a way

Sometimes words just can't explain

This is real

I'm afraid

I guess this time there's just no hiding, fighting

You make me restless

You're in my heart

The only light that shines

There in the dark

'Cause I wanted to fly,

So you gave me your wings

And time held its breath so I could see, yeah

And you set me free

When I was alone

You came around

When I was down

You pulled me through

And there's nothing that

I wouldn't do for you

'Cause I wanted to fly,

So you gave me your wings

And time held its breath so I could see, yeah

And you set me free

"You Set Me Free" – Michelle Branch

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, I have to apologize now. Again, no actual happy ending for Alex and Jacob. If I said that I'd planned it when I started writing, I'd be lying. I never intended them to get together in this part, because… drum roll… there is a third part.<strong>

**You probably guessed it by now. It's called **_**Blood Rage**_**.**

**This is the short summary:** Alex and Jacob must find a dead body that walked out of a funeral home. They end up in the middle of a deadly match while having to battle with their own growing feelings for each other.

**And, of course, I'll give you a little more incentive:**

The subject of the missing body was quickly forgotten. They moved down to the basement living room, which was mainly for Gillian's use and they watched movies.

Alex was leaning against Jacob's chest, his arm around her waist. She had to keep shooting Gillian evil glares to remind her to stop smirking at the two of them.

It wasn't until it was almost midnight that Jacob said, "We've got to get going."

"No, we can sleep here," Alex moaned, already half asleep, eyes too heavy to open them. "I've got such a comfy pillow," she added, meaning his chest.

"I'm glad you're comfortable, but I for one have a lot to do tomorrow and you had a few errands to run yourself," he replied. She could feel him caressing her cheek, giving her even less incentive to move anytime soon. "Come on, honey," he whispered, kissing her on the top of her head. "Gillian's already asleep. We really should go."

Before he waited for her answer he simply put one arm around her back and the other under her knees and scooped her up while rising to his feet effortlessly. She was wide awake with surprise now, but she didn't mind if he carried her anyway. "Mm, my knight in cut-off jeans," she said, grinning, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Anything for you, my fair maiden," he joked back as he carried her up the stairs and to the front door. Unfortunately he had to set her down here, because she had to go through the annoying process of dressing for the freezing cold outside.

"I seriously envy you sometimes," she said, looking at his t-shirt.

He chuckled. "Don't. Imagine if you were running at the same temperature as me, I wouldn't have to hold you close anymore to keep you warm." She blinked at that. Somehow that didn't sound like his usual comebacks and it sent a swarm of butterflies fluttering through her stomach.

When she turned to him he was standing very close and there was a strange look in his eyes. One that made her weak in the knees and her heart start pounding madly. Her lips had gone dry and she had to wet them. The movement of her tongue caught Jacob's attention and his eyes shifted to Alex's mouth. There was a flash of hunger in his gaze, like he was about to kiss her…

**Is he gonna? Well, you'll find out when you read **_**Blood Rage**_**. I'll start it as soon as I can, but first I'll also begin the **_**Short Story Collection**_** with a few chapters coming between **_**Blood Bonds**_** and **_**Blood Rage**_**.**

**I hope I'll see you all again soon. Until then! Luv you all!**


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